New Regulations On The Way for Tattoo Studios in Houston Co.

Tattoo and piercing studios in Houston County may soon have to change the way they do business.

As of right now, there are no regulations for studios regarding the health or safety of the artist or the customer. Technically, anyone with a business license can give someone a tattoo or piercing in Houston County. 

The state of Georgia gave county health boards the authority to regulate studios, by creating rules and regulations.

Some of the regulations being proposed are the sterilization of needles and equipment, personal hygiene and vaccination of the artist, and even C.P.R. and First Aid certification.

Carla Coley of the North Central Health District is behind the initiative.

“We’re not here to keep them (the artists) from doing what they enjoy, and make a living at. But we want to protect them, as well as the public too.”

Many of the artists in Houston County are in support of implementing the new regulations.

John Wilkins runs Canvas of Flesh Tattoos, and he says his career has the same seriousness as a doctor has treating patients.

“I studied relentlessly, about human skin, the human anatomy, and the psychological…It’s no different to when you want to be a doctor and you go to college. You’ve just got to study hard, and you’ve got to be serious about it, or you’re not gonna be nothing or go nowhere in life. And I just treat it as the same.”