Do they use new needles? Do they wear latex or comparable exam gloves while creating their tattoo design? Do they use an acceptable hard surface disinfectant on all their tools and work surface in between tattoos after doing away with all disposable items (razor blades, ink, ink cups, Vaseline, plastic barriers, rubber bands, etc)? How do they sterilize their non-disposable equipment?

These are the questions that you should have answered BEFORE getting tattooed or pierced...as well as any others that come to mind. Remember, it's YOUR health, and it's your responsibility. Do it for yourself as well as for your friends and loved ones. You don't want to end up an amputee Typhoid Mary, do you?

As far as sterilization goes, there are three commonly used methods... cold chemical, dry heat, and autoclave sterilization.

An autoclave is a device that uses steam, heat, and pressure to kill all known microorganisms and the spores with which they reproduce and is the preferred method of sterilization, especially for equipment that has come into contact with possibly infectious body fluids.

Chemical and dry heat sterilization are considered adequate for non-contaminated items (those that have not come into contact with body fluids) or items that cannot be sterilized in an autoclave, but aren't the most effective practices because the steam pressure of an autoclave (what these two methods lack) is what kills reproductive spores and gets into all the little nooks and crannies of the equipment.

Autoclave sterilization takes place when clean, dry, individually packaged items are processed at 15 pounds per square inch and 250 degrees Fahrenheit for twenty minutes at temp and pressure (though this is the most common standard, these figures vary… more heat or pressure can decrease necessary exposure time).