Tattoo Thursday

KPTV, Oregon tattoo artists push back on topical anesthetic ban

Tattoo artists across Oregon are voicing concerns after a recent rule clarification from the Oregon Health Authority says topical anesthetics cannot be used by any tattoo artist.

Sean Lanusse has been tattooing for nearly two decades, and sits on the committee that reviews curriculum for Oregon tattoo schools. During their last committee meeting, a memo was introduced with little warning. “They just kinda slid it out and said we are not going to talk about this because it does not pertain to this meeting but here is this information,” Lanusse said.

The practice clarification says under no circumstance can tattoo artists in Oregon apply topical anesthetics. The reasoning: it could constitute practicing medicine. Only one other state in the U.S. bans all topical anesthetics for tattoo purposes.

Lanusse said it’s common to see a numbing agent like Bactine in a tattoo studio. “I did use bactine for a while just to ease it up a little bit, help the client through the extra 20 mins or whatever but generally I’m not using those things,” Lanusse said. “I don’t think it’s as big of a problem for us as it is for cosmetic tattooing.”

At her private studio, Exuvium Studios Body Art & Beauty, Kaysie Anderson tattoos more than just permanent makeup. She does a lot of work with scar camouflaging and post-mastectomy areola reconstructing tattooing.“I have used numbing creams up until this clarification for nearly every single service I perform,” Anderson said. After the new rule came out, she sent a poll to her clients asking if they would be willing to get their tattoos without numbing cream. Since most of the tattoos Anderson applies are in very sensitive areas of the body, a vast majority of her clients said no. “This will 100% drive business out of our state, this will also drive licensees out of our state so the HLO will loose that revenue too,” Anderson said. “If I am not able to get clarification on how this is to be enforced or applied then I would have to relocate.”

Well then, I'm definitely not getting my next tattoo in Oregon.