Can You Get a Tattoo When You Are Pregnant?

By Rutuja Chitnis | Updated: 01/01/2025

Pregnancy is a time when memories are made, and you may want to cherish this phase by etching a beautiful tattoo on your body. While it is recommended to secure memories of your pregnancy in the form of photos or moments, getting a tattoo during pregnancy opens up a debate because of a lack of safety guidelines or research on the relationship between pregnancy and tattoos. So, before you consider the feasibility of this idea, you should read and understand all the information associated with tattoos and pregnancy to make an informed decision.

Is It Safe To Get a Tattoo While Pregnant?

While there isn’t enough research about the effects of getting a tattoo during pregnancy, many doctors advise against it (1). This is mainly because it can increase the risk of getting infections like HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C (2). Also, since there is a chance the infection can reach your baby if you get infected, it can be deemed unsafe to get a tattoo when you’re pregnant.

There isn’t a lot of relevant information out there about the effect of inks and tattoo dyes on the foetus. Hence, it may be wise to avoid risk.

Risks of Getting Tattoos While Pregnant

Tattoos may not adversely affect your pregnancy; however, that does not rule out the risks that are associated with the entire process involved. Some of the risks that you can face are:

You will not be able to ensure how safe the needles being used are. This can mean that an infected needle carrying infections like HIV, Hepatitis B, or Hepatitis C can put you and the baby at risk of contracting these diseases. Although the risk is small, it is best to delay getting a tattoo until the baby is born (3).
The process of being tattooed may cause minute wounds on your skin, making them preferred sites for microbes to settle in and cause bacterial infections (4). Some of the symptoms of an infection include:
- Fever.
- Irritation, redness, or itching at the site of the tattoo.
- Blisters around the tattoo that contain pus or fluids.
- Foul-smelling yellow discharge from the infections on the tattoo.
- Red or dark-coloured lines around the area of the tattoo. This can be dangerous as it can indicate blood poisoning or sepsis caused when the injections seep into the bloodstream.
- Hard tissue formation at the site of the tattoo.
How the chemicals in tattoo dyes affect babies isn’t being studied adequately. It is possible that small amounts of chemicals that don’t cause adults any harm may be harmful to the foetus. However, the risks as well as the effects on the baby are unknown. Thus, it is best to delay getting a tattoo until your baby is born (3).
If your tattoo hasn’t healed until your delivery, the anesthesiologist will not give you an epidural to prevent the risk of infection.

The pain caused by the needles may trigger stress in you and affect the baby. It may also cause premature labour in some instances.
Your body goes through a lot of changes during pregnancy. Your skin, especially on the stomach, stretches out to accommodate the new baby. While the tattoo may look great on your pregnancy skin, your post-pregnancy tattoo may not look the same due to stretch marks and the like.
Certain skin conditions like Prurigo, PUPP or Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques Of Pregnancy, and Impetigo herpetiformis, which is a form of psoriasis, can make it painful to get a tattoo.

As mentioned earlier, the anesthesiologist may not give you an epidural to prevent the risk of infection, especially if your tattoo hasn’t healed. The decision to get an epidural thus depends on the healing of your tattooed skin. There’s more. Continue reading to know about it.

Can Tattoos Affect the Chances of Getting an Epidural?

Epidural is a pain relief local anaesthetic administered to pregnant women during labour and delivery if the woman opts for it. The needle for the epidural is injected into the lower back, which is a popular site for tattoos for most women. In case you have a recent tattoo in that area, which hasn’t completely healed, you may get an infection. The duration for a tattoo to heal is anywhere between two weeks to a month. Hence, you are advised that you don’t get a tattoo very close to the date of your delivery.

However, if you have had a tattoo before your pregnancy, there shouldn’t be any problem with an epidural (5). However, the site where the needle was injected could develop some scar tissue, which could alter the look of your tattoo.

What About a Henna Tattoo?

A henna tattoo is a natural and temporary alternative to a permanent tattoo. Made of henna powder, water, sugar, and certain essential oils, these kinds of tattoos can last up to weeks, fulfilling your desire for a tattoo. Henna can also help cool down your body temperature. However, you will need to be careful to stay away from black henna, as it can cause skin reactions like blisters, irritation, and burns due to the para-phenylenediamine (PPD) content in it (6) (7).

You also have the option of getting sticker tattoos, which stay for a few days, if you want another alternative.

How to Get a Tattoo Safely

If you have weighed your risks and decided to get a tattoo while you’re pregnant, you will need to take precautions to evade any risks. Here are some of the ways this can be achieved, as listed by the American Pregnancy Association (3):

Inform your tattooist before your appointment that you are pregnant so that extra precautions are taken.
You may also want to hold off getting a tattoo until the second trimester, when your baby’s bones, nerves, and muscles have entirely developed, to prevent any risks.
Ensure that your tattooist is registered and has a license.
Make sure the equipment being used is clean and sanitised. It is ideal if the parlour has an autoclave, a machine used to sterilise needles and equipment.

Visit the parlour or enquire about the parlour to ensure the place is hygienic.
Ensure that the tattooist is wearing clean, disposable latex gloves and using sterile tools while performing the procedure (8).
Ask for new needles to be used, and make sure they are opened right in front of you.
Sterile water should be used to mix inks. Also, the ink should be used from disposable single-use cups.
The dressings used should be all sterile. They should come from an unopened pack.
Ensure the availability of the tattooist for at least 24 hours after you get the tattoo in case a problem arises.

Can You Remove Tattoo While Pregnant?

If you are thinking about getting your removed during pregnancy before your baby arrives, you should wait. There’s no evidence stating the efficacy or safety of the removal of a tattoo when pregnant. However, there are potential risks from tattoo removal, including pressure on the overloaded and weakened immune system of the mother and increased risk of scarring due to skin sensitivity during pregnancy. Although not proven, the ink broken down by the laser could penetrate the skin, entering the body. Although it is proven that ink could enter the placental barrier, it is safe to avoid risky activities during pregnancy for which there is no evidence of safety.

FAQs

1. Can tattoo ink come in contact with the breast milk?

Ink molecules are generally quite large and may or may not pass into breast milk after receiving a tattoo. That said, tattoo ink can take a significant amount, which is unclear, to break down in the body. So, there’s no way to tell whether nursing after getting a tattoo is safe.

2. What should you know while getting a tattoo during pregnancy?

If you are still deciding on getting a tattoo when pregnant, you should know the facts about tattoos.

Getting a tattoo is painful and can be intense, especially in the areas with thin skin, like the hands, neck, feet, and ankles.
During pregnancy, your body undergoes changes, including gaining weight. A tattoo gotten during pregnancy may become asymmetrical after the body returns to its pre-pregnancy shape, especially in the areas that are likely to stretch.
Tattoo removal is equally painful, and getting a tattoo removed with the laser technique is advised during pregnancy or breastfeeding (9).
Stretch marks are common in areas like the belly, breasts, buttocks, and thighs, so there is a possibility of stretch marks going over your tattoo, too.

3. Are existing tattoos harmful to the pregnancy?

Already existing tattoos do not impact the pregnancy or the foetus in the womb. You may expect a change in the shape or colour of the tattoo due to chloasma (brown pigmentation that happens during pregnancy), weight gain, or skin stretching.

4. Who should not get a tattoo?

Pregnant and breastfeeding women, and those with an allergy to nickel or chromium should avoid getting a tattoo (1).

The decision to get a tattoo during pregnancy should be made carefully, keeping all parameters in mind, to ensure there is no risk to the baby. Before you get a tattoo, discuss the feasibility of the idea with your medical practitioner, and follow the aftercare instructions carefully to ensure safety if you get one.

References/Resources:

1. Tattoos; Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jmwh.12967; February 2019

2. Viral Hepatitis in Pregnancy; ACOG; https://acog.org/womens-health/faqs/viral-hepatitis-in-pregnancy?utm_source=redirect&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=int

3. Can You Get a Tattoo While Pregnant?; American Pregnancy Association; https://americanpregnancy.org/healthy-pregnancy/is-it-safe/tattoos/

4. Dieckmann. R, et al.; The Risk of Bacterial Infection After Tattooing; Deutsches Ärzteblatt International; https://www.aerzteblatt.de/int/archive/article/182859; December 2015

5. Kluger. N, Sleth. J; Tattoo and epidural analgesia: Rise and fall of a myth; La Presse Médicale; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0755498220300385?via%3Dihub; December 2020

6. Temporary Tattoos, Henna/Mehndi, and “Black Henna”: Fact Sheet; FDA; https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetic-products/temporary-tattoos-hennamehndi-and-black-henna-fact-sheet

7. Black Henna; Florida Health; https://www.floridahealth.gov/environmental-health/tattooing/black-henna.html

8. Galle. F, et al.; What about Your Body Ornament? Experiences of Tattoo and Piercing among Italian Youths; International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health; https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/23/12429; November 2021

9. TATTOO REMOVAL: LASERS OUTSHINE OTHER METHODS; American Academy of Dermatology Association; https://www.aad.org/public/cosmetic/hair-removal/laser-tattoo-removal

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