Epidural Through Tattoo Poses Minimal Risk

Lower back tattoos are all the rage, with many women adopting them in early adulthood. The Wall Street Journal recently examined concerns about lower back tattoos causing risks to pregnant women at the time of epidural injections.

Epidural injections are given to ease the pain of labor and childbirth and are administered to the spine at the level of the lower back. With more women seeking lower back tattoos, physicians were concerned about the dye or ink from these tattoos entering the spinal cord through the epidural injection.

The research says that there may be a minimal risk, and women should be aware of this, but there is no cause for massive alarm. If your tattoo is dry and the ink has set, the chances of any appreciable amount of dye entering your spinal fluid is very small.

Anesthesiologists are advised to make a nick in the skin prior to inserting the epidural, which will prevent any tattooed skin from being pulled into the site of injection.

The FDA does regulate the pigments and dyes used in tattooing but has not, so far, issued any recommendations or preferences on this issue.