Sudbury far from being infected tattoo capital of Canada

Greater Sudbury is not the infected tattoo capital of Canada, says Statistics Canada.

On Twitter, people have been retweeting a post from @stats_canada that “Sudbury, ON is the infected tattoo capital of Canada.”

However, the Twitter account, @stats_canada, states that it is a satire site, and that it’s “100.6% not affiliated with Statistics Canada.”

Satire or not, the account is popular — the Twitter account has amassed more than 168,000 followers and its Facebook page has 809 likes.

Peter Frayne, Statistics Canada's manager of media relations, said they “have no statistics about infected tattoos or which city might have the most cases.” The official Twitter site for Statistics Canada is Statcan_eng and Statcan_fra.

Lori Mathias, co-owner of Lively-based tattoo studio Pricked Tattoos, said misinformation about an industry that already has to work hard to allay fears of tattoos certainly does not help.

She said she wasn't aware of the tweet, because she doesn't use Twitter on a regular basis, but people need to know that tattoos from reputable parlours rarely get infected.

“People getting their first tattoo are already scared and nervous, and if there is inaccurate information out there like this, it makes it hard to help people get past those fears,” she said.

She said tattoos from reputable parlours very rarely get infected. However, the chances increase when the tattoo is done by “scratchers,” or people who work out of their homes who might not have the proper equipment, she said.

“Infections don't happen as much as people like to think,” she said. “In this industry, though, it's like if it happened once, then it happened 1,000 times.”

And it isn't dirty needles that are the leading cause of infections at tattoo studios, she said. It does happen, but the risk is low. It's usually the after-care that people aren't doing properly.

“The after-care of a tattoo is very, very important,” she said. “In the first three or four days following a tattoo, your pores are still open, so something like excessive sweat, dirt and bacteria is a concern.”

Reputable shops will go through the steps of tattoo care with their clients, Mathias said. For example, Pricked Tattoos provides clients with after-care cards with step-by-step instructions.

“Obviously, if a client isn't taking proper care of their tattoo, they run a higher risk of infection,” she said.

Infected tattoos can be red, swollen or bumpy, Mathias said.

That being said, tattoo artists take a great deal of precautions to prevent infections. Many shops use disposable equipment, from the needle right down to the ink caps used to hold the ink used during a tattoo session.

Anything steel or rubber that isn't disposable is sterilized before and after use, she said. Such equipment is put through an “autoclave” machine, which uses water heated to 273 C to kill bacteria.

While tattoo shops need a business licence, there are no regulations in place to ensure tattoo artists are using disposable equipment to prevent infections. That being said, every reputable tattoo studio is subject to regular inspections from the Sudbury and District Health Unit, Mathias said.

And, much like the way the health unit publishes online the results of restaurant inspections, it also makes available the results of tattoo studio inspections. Only, that information isn't currently available on the health unit's website. Anyone seeking that information has to call the health unit.

Ontario has been inspecting personal service settings, which includes tattoo parlours, piercers, hair salons and estheticians, since 1999. Provincial rules require public health units to conduct one investigation a year.

But the Sudbury and District Health Unit has its own mandate for higher-risk facilities. That doesn't mean there's a problem with infection, but that there is a higher risk of spreading disease (anything that breaks the skin, for instance).

In those cases, the health unit conducts three investigations a year.

“(Three investigations a year) is an internal policy that the Sudbury and District Health Unit has had for about a year,” said Holly Browne, manager of Environmental Health at the health unit.

“It's not because we found problems, I want to clarify that. It's because we're looking at procedures that are invasive, and we want to ensure the public as a whole is being protected.”

There is a best-practices document that guides public health inspectors in what to look for in these facilities, Browne said. That document is available on the health unit's website for anyone who might be curious as to what inspectors are looking for at these locations.

There are 17 tattoo parlours in the health unit's catchment area that are regularly inspected, which includes the Sudbury and Manitoulin districts. Those are the ones that are known the health unit, Browne said.

There is still a possibility of home-based tattoo artists that haven't been brought to the health unit's attention.

“If someone were to inform us of a home-based tattoo artist that we didn't know about, we would follow up and go in and inspect the operation. Even those who operate out of their home are required to have a business licence, and we will go in and work with them to come into compliance with the best-practices document.”

There is nothing saying a home-based business isn't being run the same as a storefront business, she said.

“It's a matter of, is it being inspected and is it adhering to the best-practices documents?”

Inspectors look for the cleanliness of the facility, if infection-control procedures (such as using proper protective equipment for both the client and the tattoo artist) are being used, and ensuring any equipment that needs to be sterilized is, indeed, being sterilized.

“We haven't had any problems with our tattoo parlours,” she said.

“Being in there three times a year allows us to work with the operators. We have a good rapport with our tattoo artists. I review the reports as they are conducted, and I know we haven't seen any issues come up on the inspection reports that would indicate a concern for infection.”

Nor has the health unit had any complaints from the public about infected tattoos. If such complaints were filed, public health inspectors would be responding, Browne said.

As for publishing tattoo parlour inspection reports on the health unit's website, Browne said it is something that is being looking into, but “we are not at a point where we can say it will be going up at any specific time.”

Anyone concerned with a particular tattoo studio can call the health unit to request reports, and the health unit will provide that information.