Tattoos and epidurals

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I work in dialysis so ob/gyn is a far fetch regarding my knowledge. A close friend of mine just gave birth and her MD refused to consider an epidural due to her having a tattoo on her lower back. If it was a relatively new tat I could see the risk of infection but one several years old. Can someone enlighten me on this or was the MD just being overly cautious? Thanks in advance!

You can get your entire back tattooed, but you can't do natural childbirth? I've had both (tats and childbirth) and the tats hurt way more, in my opinion.

There really isn't any evidence that you can't give epidurals through tats. I can understand the theory behind it, though. Guess it's a good question to ask your doc prior to planning on getting an epidural.

The hospital I work at currently has an epidural rate in excess of 90%. We also live in a college/hipster town, lots of ink. I suspect our anesthesiologists have no problem giving epidurals through tats. I dont' work L&D, though, so I can't say for sure.

When I give injections or draw blood, I try to avoid inked areas, but only because I don't want to scar the tat, not because of fear of instilling ink in the blood stream.

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...The ever-popular tramp stamps are right in the epidural location...

'Tramp stamps'..... LOL... hadn't heard that one... ROTFL ! :lol2::lol2::lol2::lol2:

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...i wouldn't think it would be too much of a problem to get an injection in the site of a tattoo...

tattoo ink is made of pigments and a carrier...below are what is usually used to make the colored pigments

Blue - Calcium Copper Silicate

Red - Iron Oxide

Green - Chromium Oxide

Yellow - Curcuma

Black - Carbon

White - Zinc Oxide

http://tattoos.lovetoknow.com/Tattoo_Ink

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Specializes in Labor & Delivery.

Our anesthesiologist will not place an epidural through a tattoo. Their attitude is that they do not know what is in the dye, and will not take any chances on bringing that tiny amount of dye into the epidural space. In this time of "sue everyone", they do not want to add any additional risk to what is really an elective procedure. People have had children for eternity w/o an epidural, although nowadays people can't seem to do without it . Girls should be educated before they get that tattoo that it can limit their options for pain relief later on...

(mom of 4 - never had an epi)

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