TATTOES AS MAKE UP

February 23, 2011
Tattoos as Makeup? Read the Fine Print
By ABBY ELLIN

AURI REYNOSO, a hairstylist in Englewood, N.J., says she wanted to roll out of bed “looking beautiful.” So three years ago, she asked Melany Whitney, a certified permanent-cosmetics professional based in New York, New Jersey and Florida, to tattoo eyeliner and defined brows onto her face. Though the procedure was “a little uncomfortable,” said Ms. Reynoso, now 39, she was delighted with the results. “Everything for beauty,” she said. “It’s amazing how you can wake up looking absolutely fabulous and get ready in five minutes. I just apply blush, lip gloss and mascara and I’m done.”

Permanent makeup, also known as micropigmentation or cosmetic tattooing, dates back to the early 1980s, when it was developed to address alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss (including eyebrows). Since then, the field has expanded to include burn victims and cancer survivors, patients with arthritis and Parkinson’s disease who have difficulty putting on makeup and people like Ms. Reynoso, who would simply rather limit the amount of time spent in front of a mirror.

But while many are thrilled with their outcomes, all is not rosy in the world of needles and ink. The word “permanent” is a misnomer because the color fades with time. Some patients develop granulomas, keloids, scars and blisters, and they report burning sensations when they undergo an M.R.I. What’s more, although the inks used in permanent makeup and the pigments in these inks are subject to the scrutiny of the Food and Drug Administration, regulations for practitioners (electrologists, cosmetologists, doctors, nurses and tattoo artists) vary by state. “You can go on eBay and buy machines and pigment and go in the garage and set up shop,” said Dr. Charles Zwerling, an ophthalmologist in Goldsboro, N.C., and an author of the forthcoming book “Micropigmentation Millennium.” He founded the American Academy of Micropigmentation, a nonprofit professional organization that offers certification for practitioners, in 1992. “We see thousands of faces being destroyed by people who don’t get trained properly, and that’s the biggest problem in permanent cosmetics,” said John Hashey, the owner of John Hashey’s Advanced School of Permanent Cosmetics in Oldsmar, Fla. Mr. Hashey said that 90 percent of his business is fixing mistakes. “Your average cosmetologist who cuts hair has to do 1,200 to 1,500 hours just to do that,” he said. “How is that any more important than taking a needle to someone’s eye?”

The adverse reactions to micropigmentation include infections like H.I.V., hepatitis, staph and strep from dirty needles, and allergic reactions to the permanent dyes, said Dr. Jessica J. Krant, a dermatologist in Manhattan and an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the SUNY Downstate Medical Center in New York. A report in this month’s issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases reported an outbreak of mycobacterium haemophilum, a nontuberculous mycobacterium that causes skin, joint, bone and pulmonary infections, after permanent makeup was applied to patients’ brows. A study last September in Contact Dermatitis, a medical journal, investigated severe adverse reactions like swelling, burning, and the development of papules in four patients who had had at least two permanent-makeup procedures on their lips. “In light of the severe and often therapy-resistant skin reactions, we strongly recommend the regulation and control of the substances” used in the colorants, the authors wrote.

The New York Times

JOANNE MAÑA