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Tattooing, the new teen thing
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While adults consider tattoo an art and self-beautification, teenagers mostly get their body tattooed to imitate their peers, says Truong Nghiem, the owner of a tattoo shop on Hoang Van Thu Street in Ho Chi Minh City.

Many school students come to his shop because it is discreetly located and big shops may not serve them, he says.

Most youngsters get tattooed without informing their parents until the deed is done. Huong, a girl studying in a high school in District 3, says: “I thought about it very carefully for almost a year before I decided to get a tattoo. My mom didn’t like it, but since it was already done, there was no point in scolding me.”

There are exceptions, though. Nghiem was once surprised when a father brought his 14-year-old son for a tattoo. The man himself had a tattoo on his arm and thought it was no great deal for his son to have a small star on his arm too.

Sang of a high school in the city says: “Not all those who have tattoos are thugs or drug addicts. It’s different now. I want to have a tattoo just because it looks beautiful.”

The little sparrow tattoo on his shoulder is a sign not of rebellion but of his appreciation for a form of art, he says. He hopes to become a tattoo artist himself.


Pride vs prejudice

Nghiem, an experienced tattoo artist, says teenagers should consider carefully before getting a tattoo. Most teenagers choose simple images like words, stars, flowers, and zodiac symbols, but as soon as they get something a bit fancy, people will immediately switch to “judgment mode,” he warns.

Tien, a Vo Thi Sau High School alumnus, says: “Tattoos do look cool, but girls with tattoos are definitely ‘no’. Even if I happen to go out with a tattooed girl, I won’t take the relationship seriously.”

Despite the increasing popularity of tattooing, it is undeniable that most people still harbor a prejudice against tattooed teenage girls.

Whenever Nguyen Khuyen High School literature teacher Nguyen Thi Dan Thanh spots a student with a tattoo, she reminds them not to do anything they would regret later.

“Though I often tell my students to look at things from different perspectives, tattoos are just unacceptable. It’s inadvisable for boys to have tattoos, and it’s doubly so for girls.”

Some parents strongly disapprove of their children trying to assert themselves by tattooing.

“A perfectly plain body is most beautiful,” My, the owner of a fashion shop in District 1, says.

“I don’t see why people want to imprint these shapes on their body.” She recently took her child to a clinic on Nguyen Binh Khiem Street to get a tattoo removed.

A “second thoughts are best” tattoo like David Beckham’s costs around VND2 million


Infection risk

Dr Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh, a dermatologist at District 10’s Medical Center, says: “When it comes to tattooing, what concerns us most is the risk of infection. Whether it is done by machine or hand, if hygiene rules are not strictly observed, there is always a possibility of contracting HIV or hepatitis B, C.”

To ensure they do not transmit infections and diseases in the tattooing process, tattoo shops must follow strict sanitation and safety standards such as sterilizing tattooing equipment properly or using single-use needles, she says.

The tattoo ink should never be reused since there is a high risk of viruses finding their way into it, and the skin must be sterilized and cleaned before and after the process like for a surgery, she warns.

Dermatologists agree there are generally no side effects in tattooing but say since the ink is made of chemicals, precautions should be made to ensure it is safe and non-allergic.


Easy come, not easy go

Removing tattoos could be a tricky business. Oanh says: “If the ink does not go too deep, it will fade easily. But if it does, it is very difficult to be removed and will definitely leave scars.”

A complex tattoo may cost thousands of dollars and take days to complete

In the past common removal methods included cover-up, excision, dermabrasion, and the use of acid, heat (CO2 laser), and even salt. All of them cause great pain and leave ugly-looking scars on the skin.

A new method that promises scarless removal has been developed recently – Q-Switched lasers. However, it requires multiple sessions and the treatment process is painful.

Typically, the cost of removing a tattoo is much greater than creating it, and usually depends on size, color, and depth.

Tattoos are made with a small machine that has a needle in front and an ink cartridge in the back. The machine works just like a sewing machine, with the needle permeating ink beneath the skin. The tattooing process can last up to a few hours for a large tattoo, cause bleeding, and result in several days of pain.


How to make a tattoo:

- Locate and measure the tattoo area and draw a sample on paper or computer.

- Pick the desired ink color and prepare the ink.

- Sterilize tattoo equipment and the skin area to be tattooed.

- Start drawing the tattoo on the skin (for complicated ones, the drawing must be done many times, with the same sterilization process used each time)

- Apply medicine to prevent infection



Since tattooing involves injecting a needle through the skin, safety is still a great concern.


Source: Tuoi Tre