Safety, Risks & Contraindications
Absolute and relative contraindications, patch testing and pigment allergy, infection prevention, MRI questions, difficult healing, bloodborne-pathogen basics and pigment migration.
7 articles
Safety, Risks & Contraindications
Contraindications for Lip Blushing
Some conditions rule it out entirely; more make it 'not now' or 'only with clearance'. Screening for them at consultation — and being willing to say no — is the artist's core safety duty.
January 25, 2025 · 6 min read
Safety, Risks & Contraindications
Patch Testing and Pigment Allergy
True allergy to tattoo pigment is uncommon but real, can appear immediately or years later, and is difficult to treat because the allergen is locked in the skin. A patch test lowers — but does not eliminate — the risk.
January 22, 2025 · 5 min read
Safety, Risks & Contraindications
Infection Risk and Prevention
The lip's blood supply makes serious infection uncommon when technique is clean, but staph/strep, reactivated herpes, and rarely atypical mycobacteria from contaminated water or ink do occur. Prevention is sterile disposables, barriers and aftercare.
January 19, 2025 · 6 min read
Safety, Risks & Contraindications
MRI and Tattoo Pigment
Cosmetic tattoos, including lip blushing, are not a reason to avoid a needed MRI. A minority of people feel brief warmth or tingling at the site; serious effects are very rare. Tell the radiographer you have PMU.
January 16, 2025 · 4 min read
Safety, Risks & Contraindications
Hyperpigmentation and Difficult Healing
Post-inflammatory hyperpigmentation — a darker patch where the skin was traumatised — is the most common 'difficult heal', more so in higher Fitzpatrick types. Keloid and hypertrophic scarring from a lip blush is rare but possible.
January 13, 2025 · 5 min read
Safety, Risks & Contraindications
Bloodborne Pathogen Basics
Hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV are the bloodborne viruses that matter in a PMU studio. The defences are vaccination (HBV), universal precautions, sterile single-use sharps, safe sharps disposal, and an exposure plan.
January 10, 2025 · 6 min read
Safety, Risks & Contraindications
Pigment Migration and Blowout
Migration is pigment spreading beyond where it was placed — a fuzzy halo past the border, or colour drifting into the skin over months. It comes from going too deep, over-working, heavy-handed pressure, or too much pigment at once.
January 7, 2025 · 5 min read