Sterilization
Methods
Tattooing
and Piercing
In general, all tattooing
needles, piercing
needles or jewelry
that enters an already aseptic part of the body (such as the
bloodstream, or penetrating the skin) must be sterilized to a high sterility assurance
level, or SAL. Examples of such instruments in the mainstream
medical field include scalpels, hypodermic needles and artificial pacemakers.
Anything that applies to the medial and/or dental fields, while they may not be
regulated in your state in regards to body modification, should be regulated in
your working environment.
Preparation of tattoo equipment and piercing supplies require not
only a high sterility assurance
level, but also well-designed containers to prevent entry of adventitious agents after initial product
sterilization.
Understand that sterilization is the ultimate process, killing all
life. Now consider sanitization and disinfection, which kill partially and
selectively, depending on the processes used. Both reduce the number of
targeted [pathogenic] organisms to what are considered "acceptable"
levels - levels that a reasonably healthy, intact, body can deal with. An
example of this class of process is Pasteurization.
Autoclave
An autoclave is
generally considered to be the only form of sterilization appropriate for a
body modification studio, although some low-volume home studios may use
chemical sterilization. It should be noted that cleaning is the most important
part of sterilization - unclean tools may not sterilize properly. Cleaning can
be achieved by first putting your tools in a ultrasonic
with proper cleaning tablets or Alconox and scrubbing
them at least once during the ultra sonic
cycle. Then
with gloved hands remove your equipment and pat dry it. These tools are
still contaminated with microbial bacteria! So make sure you’re setting them on
your “dirty” stainless tray and not on any surfaces that cannot be sterilized.
After your tools have been properly bagged, an
autoclave sterilizes through a combination of pressure and heat. While it might
be difficult to justify the cost if you're just tattooing yourself or your
fluids-exchanged partner from time-to-time, there is no excuse for not using an
autoclave for your non disposable multiuse items and
equipment if you're tattooing friends. No special paperwork is required to buy
them—consider them essential.
That said, as with all things, you have to use them properly. They
must reach and sustain the required heat and pressure. They must be packed
properly. They must have water in them. They must be spore tested from time to time, about once
every 10 hours of cycle time, to ensure they are functioning properly.
Any studio which does not employ proper sterile techniques should
be always be avoided.
Chemical
Sterilization (Chemiclaves)
Chemical sterilization using gluteraldehyde based chemical agents
is an effective way to sterilize in a studio environment, but care must be
taken to follow the instructions precisely. A common mistake people make is not
leaving the tools in the chemical bath long enough because they contaminate the
bath by adding additional tools part way through the cycle. If given a choice
between a Chemiclave and an Autoclave, choose the Autoclave. The
chemical steam that often pours out of a Chemiclave when retrieving your tools
is poisonous and unless great care is taken and extra ventilation is installed
in your clean room, it’s just not worth the long term health risks.
Boiling
Boiling water is generally unable to fully sterilize jewelry, needles, or other body
modification equipment. Boiling water is 100 degrees Celsius. Although this
will theoretically kill most organisms other than endospores
and some viruses in half an hour, because endospores are
not killed and the consistency is poor, no health boards consider boiling as a
viable form of sterilization. The CDC
(center for disease control) has permitted boiling of needles and medical tools
for an hour in extreme cases in areas where autoclaves and other more
functional methods are not available. They emphasize the additional difficulty
of controlling contamination from the containers for the boiled items, as well as
the tools used to transfer them (since you can't boil something inside an autoclave bag
). After the item is boiled it is then transferred to a sterile field to dry,
and then placed in a sterile
container if possible.
It should also be pointed out that while in theory boiling mostly
works, in real-world tests at dental clinics still using boiling as their
method of sterilization, staphylococcus
bacteria were found on tools that had been
boiled - and this is one of the most common bacteria linked to infections in new tattoos and body piercings.
It must be emphasized that boiling as a sterilization procedure is
not recommended and is utterly unacceptable in a professional
context. For self-piercing or tattooing:
This might be an acceptable way to clean equipment and jewelry that have been
used on either no one or only on you, but this is definitely not an acceptable
way to clean tools that have come in contact with anyone else.
You can take this a notch up by using a pressure cooker (since one
could argue that a steam autoclave is essentially just a fancy pressure
cooker). However, realize that because a pressure cooker doesn't have the
gauges and monitoring ability that an autoclave does, you'll never really know
how effective your sterilization cycle was. It’s just not worth the risks.
Bleach
While bleach is far a more powerful anti-microbial agent than
alcohol, bleach kits often don't kill Hepatitis, and sometimes don't even kill
the AIDS virus. Avoid it as a sterilization practice.
Rubbing
Alcohol
Rubbing
alcohol will disinfect and to some extent sterilize. However, most of the
microbes we worry about (things like Hepatitis) aren't going to be killed using
rubbing alcohol. Rubbing alcohol might be a marginally acceptable way to clean
your own supplies in lieu of a ultra sonic, but if
these supplies have been handled by or used on anyone else, alcohol isn't going
to cut it. That means that if you use a steel tube or grip when tattooing a
client, alcohol alone isn't going to get rid of his or her germs afterwards. So
again, don’t solely rely on it.
Don’t even think about it. We’re not cavemen.
Using a flame to sterilize needles or any other body modification
implement is generally considered unacceptable. There is little real world data
available on the effectiveness of direct flame in killing microbial life, so
don’t do it.
So now you’re armed with all this information, with all the
sterilization possibilities, and the threats of bacteria. The fear of blood
borne pathogens, cross contamination, dirty needles, HIV and AIDS, but you
can’t afford an Autoclave…AHHHHH!
Relax.
We’ve got you covered, literally.
[click through to machine covers and
disposable needle tube combos]