PEABODY — The Board of Health recently held a hearing to discuss Christina Bowden’s application for a permit to perform body piercing at Intricate Ink Tattoo & Piercing. She was granted the permit with a unanimous vote.
Bowden has been a body piercer for more than a decade. She started in 2011 as an apprentice. She also has a medical background and is a certified phlebotomist and medical assistant as well. Bowden shared that she also has experience tattooing.
Health Department Director Sharon Cameron asked Bowden where her station would be at Intricate Ink, considering there is only one piercing station, and Bowden would be the second piercer on staff. She was curious how that would be managed and whether multiple procedures would happen at the same time in the same space.
Bowden clarified that she would be the only piercer, and that would be her station.
“I’m actually filling in for the piercer that was there. She kind of just up and left,” Bowden said.
Cameron asked Bowden to explain the procedures she follows to prevent cross contamination.
Bowden first mentioned how she’s taken classes to further her baseline education on sanitation standards through the Association of Professional Piercers.
“The APP does require you to wash your hands before and after every piercing, to clean the area that you’re going to pierce with an alcohol swab, mark it, have them look at the placement, and then I go ahead and clean it with iodine,” Bowden said.
She also explained that she changes her gloves regularly throughout the whole procedure.
“All of the jewelry,” she continued, “are fully sterile.”
Bowden said the shop has machines, like an autoclave, to decontaminate and sterilize equipment. She also mentioned that she is a “fully disposable body piercer,” meaning she doesn’t reuse anything.
“Whatever I use gets thrown away, gets put in a sharps container,” she said. “Everything is completely new… so that there’s really very limited risk of cross contamination.”
Cameron asked Bowden what she would do if a client entered the shop and asked for their own piece of jewelry to be used.
“Unfortunately, I don’t allow outside jewelry,” Bowden said. “All of my jewelry is APP verified, so I know that it is implant grade titanium; there’s no nickel in it. Or solid 14 karat gold that has no nickel in it. If it hasn’t been verified by the APP, I don’t trust it, even if it is a reputable brand. There are just some brands that I won’t use because it’s not verified, so I don’t allow any outside jewelry. I do have plenty of options they can choose from, though, that is APP verified.”
Cameron asked if she had ever had any disciplinary action against her license, to which Bowden said no. The health inspector verified that Bowden had received no negative reports from any health departments where she previously held licenses.
Board Chair Thomas Durkin III asked Bowden to discuss her aftercare procedures and how that information gets to the client.
Bowden explained that the consent forms the client must fill out prior to the procedure are digital, and once those are filled out, the aftercare instructions are automatically sent to the email the client provided.
“I do go through instructions with them. After every piercing, I actually clean it for them. I show them what to use. I walk them through it. I only recommend a sterile saline solution, and I’ll give them the brands that I recommend,” Bowden said.
The public hearing was then closed, and the motion to approve Bowden’s application passed with a vote of 3-0.
