Body art – tattoos and piercings

JAIME CHASE

Jaime Chase is Haematology Clinical Nurse Specialist, Children’s Cancer & Haematology Service, John Hunter Children’s Hospital, Newcastle, NSW.

At the Nurses’ Workshop at WFH 2024 World Congress, Scott gave a fascinating presentation about the patient experience of body art with severe haemophilia A and the planning you may need to take when you are contemplating it.

Nurses workshop: Beyond factor

Body art – tattoos, piercings
Speaker (patient perspective) ~ Scott McLean, UK

Body art is a diverse form of artistic expression that involves decorating or modifying the human body. It encompasses various techniques or styles, including tattoos and piercings.

Tattoos are perhaps the most well-known form of body art, where ink is injected into the skin to create permanent designs or images. These designs can range from intricate patterns to realistic portraits, and they often hold personal significance to the wearer.

Piercings involve puncturing the skin to insert jewellery, typically in areas like the ears, nose, eyebrows, lips, tongue, or belly button. Like tattoos, piercings can be a form of self-expression or cultural condition.

Scott spoke eloquently about his journey with his body art and how sometimes he needed to adjust his treatment regime and discuss a plan with his Haemophilia Treatment Centre (HTC) before commencing any body art activities. He also spoke about being honest with your proceduralist before commencing.

His humorous descriptions of when he was younger and deciding to get tattoos without treatment prior to the procedure were very descriptive of what could go wrong in this type of situation.

His final message was that having a severe bleeding disorder did not mean that you could not achieve your goals in body art. It just may need planning with your HTC and adjusting treatment schedules.

As Scott said, ‘Think Before You Ink’.

Australian haemophilia nurses were assisted to attend WFH World Congress through funding from a variety of sources. For more information, see the Congress introduction article.