Art on Skin

     Tattooing and body piercing, which prevailed in ancient times, have become popular again in recent years.

     Mr. Ricky Lo, the owner of Ricky Tattoo, has been in the tattoo business for 30 years.

     Said Ricky: "There isn't much change in the tattoo trend. Chinese patterns and mythical gods have always been popular among Chinese and some foreigners. Customers are mostly youngsters.

     "In foreign countries, there are tattoo exhibitions as tattoos are a popular kind of decoration. It's a symbol of being trendy and smart."

     Mr. Paul Hennessy, a 32-year-old production manager, has a big circle embracing a smaller circle with a cross tattooed on his right arm.

     Said Paul: "The pattern represents my home, Cornwall, a town in Britain.

     "I had the tattoo because it won't fade, which symbolizes that my home will stay with me forever. It's meaningful."

     But social pressure may extinguish one's courage to be tattooed.

     Mak Wong Ching, a 17-year-old boy who decided to have a big guan yin on his back, said, "I was worried that I'll be discriminated against because the general public, including my parents, stereotype tattoos as rascal stuff.

     "But I've made up my mind. Tattoos are an art to show my own feelings. It's different from what others think."

     Julian Piercing provides piercing service to nearly every part of body except those too dangerous to be pierced, for instance, sexual organs.

     May Ng, who works at Julian Piercing, said, "Because of western influence, piercing body parts besides ears has become popular.

     "Among all, the navel is the most popular part to be pierced. The majority of the customers are female youngsters.

     "They dare doing this because they think body piercing can bring out their character."

     Miss Doris Yung Hoi Di, a 19-year-old student, pierced her eyebrow a year ago.

     "I like the British punk style, so I like body piercing," said Doris.

     "It gives me special feelings and makes me look fashionable."

     She had her neck and fingers pierced and after a while she had inflammation.

     Though tattoos appear more often now, the tattooing procedure has rarely been disclosed.

     According to Ricky, the tattooing procedure is as follows.

     An experienced tattooist drafts a pattern which the customer designed or chose from the shop catalogue.

     Then, the tattooist draws the picture on the customer's chosen part of skin.

     A special gun with a needle is used to inject colour pigment, which is specially treated for human skin, into the customer's skin.

     The wound will be bandaged for an hour.

     After a week, the wound will heal.

     Ricky explained, "The needle needs to be pinned into the underlying layer of the skin. The skin surface will be damaged and blood will come out.

     "Many girls cried out because it really hurts.

     "But once you got used to the pain, you'll find it easier to stand the pain."

     "We don't use dope to alleviate the pain because the skin will swell causing uneven colour distribution.

     "Once a tattoo is made, it can't be completely removed and a scar is unavoidable.

     "So I'll ask my customers to think twice before they have a tattoo."

     Regarding piercing, the more sensitive the place to be pierced, the more painful it will be.

     However, pain will be kept to minimum by piercing the part with less nerves.

     Customers of both types of body art share the same worry about hygienic problems.

     Miss Caroline Lim, a 17-year-old girl who has her ears, eyebrow and navel pierced, said, "It's not rare that people get infected with hepatitis and HIV from dirty piercing tools."

     May argued, "We throw away piercing needles once they are used, so it's safe.

     "All the tools will be sterilized before and after use. The customers' skin will also be sterilized by alcohol."

     Said Doris: "Though the piercing procedure might be hygienic, the aftercare procedure is so troublesome that most teenagers simply ignore it."

     According to Ricky, problems will occur only if low quality colour pigment is used or customers fail to take good care of the wound.