Is it a fact that pregnant women can't have epidural if they have a tatoo there?

What area are we talking about exactly? In all my experiences with tattoos I’ve never heard anything like that. What would be the reason that they couldn’t give an epidural? Doesn’t an epidural involve the spine? A tattoo sits in the dermis, the second layer of the skin. I don’t see how it would affect an epidural at all.

I don’‘t know, I hope I am not misinformed. I got this search result for “Epidural and Tattoos”.
http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=epiduaral+and+tatoos&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Here is one of the questions and the answers:
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Pregnancy-18-34/Epidurals-and-Tattoos/show/700338

The only thing that I could think of them refusing it for would be if the tattoo is unhealed. But… On that note, a woman shouldn’t be getting tattoos while she’s pregnant. Most artists will refuse to give a pregnant woman a tattoo anyways because of the risks.

One of the links in your Google search mentioned infection in the ink itself but I don’t know where that’s coming from. The ink itself can’t get infected but it can carry infection. If the ink is carrying infection, then the skin around the ink will also be infected so you would be able to tell. Not to mention, if a needle can go through a tattoo and infect the spine during an epidural, then it could go through and infect the blood stream when donating or giving blood and people are allowed to donate with tattoos now so long as they were done in a clean studio. If they weren’t done in a clean studio then they ask that you wait 12 months before donating so I don’t see what the difference would be with a an epidural.

It seems that some anesthesiologists will and some won’t. If one doesn’t, from what I’ve read you can find some that will. I’m going to make the assumption that if some anesthesiologists will give an epidural and it turns out fine repeatedly then it must be alright unless there is some sort of condition.

EDIT: To answer your question, no it is not mandatory to tell a woman about this “risk” before she gets a lower back tattoo. I spend a lot of time in the tattoo shop and I’ve never heard this mentioned even once.

When I broke my wrist 5 weeks ago, a local anesthetic was injected directly through a 25 year old tattoo before the fracture was reduced. I wasn’t even asked how old the tattoo was.

It’s BS. I’ve had two epidurals and have a lower back tattoo. One was done lower than the other (my husband watched them both go in) and nothing happened to my tattoo or to me.

Yes, she can. Lower-back tattoos (“tramp stamps”—sorry, ladies) are quite common these days, so the issue has been discussed over the past decade or so at meetings of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and Society for Obstetric Anesthesia & Perinatology.

Lumbar epidurals require that a large-gauge needle be inserted through the skin (after numbing the spot with a small needle), so the concern is whether particles of tattoo ink (or the skin cells that contain them) might somehow be harmful if transported into the epidural space, or even the subarachnoid space which contains spinal fluid. (It is known that skin cells sometimes get deposited there, the needle being larger-gauge and blunter than most hypodermic needles.)

The concern is purely theoretical—there is no evidence of toxicity and no case reports of such a complication. The pigment particles are are considered biologically inert and are absorbed into skin cells called dermal macrophages (that’s what keeps the tattoo from disappearing.) The consensus—absent any large systematic studies—is that it’s safe.

The other concern is infection, which should be no riskier with a healed tattoo than with no tattoo. If the tattoo is fresh there might be increased risk. In any case no anesthetist would place an epidural through an area of infected or inflamed skin. So don’t get tattooed in your 3rd trimester!

My experience is that the L3–4 or L4–5 inter-spaces, where most epidural punctures are made, lie above the top margins of many such tattoos. Where the tattoo overlies the puncture site(s) there are often areas of the artwork with little or no ink. Since the skin stretches a little in any direction, the needle can usually be put through ink-free areas of skin without altering the anatomical target.

Bottom line: Don’t stress over it. Get the epidural if you seek pain-free labor. Discuss the issue with the anesthesiologist or nurse anesthetist who will perform the epidural.

I can recommend trying to go through labour the natural way, if you’re worried about the effects of an epidural. It really wasn’t that bad. AND I’m speaking as someone who delivered my baby as a star gazer… the little bugger. They ended up giving me an episiotomy, but nothing could have been done. They also gave me a drug to increase the contractions. It really wasn’t that bad. Gall stones hurt much worse.

Leaving that area free of tattoos period, costs nothing, completely risk free. There is not even the cost in time and energy researching it. When people spend a ton of time reasearching it, they are hoping to find support for going ahead with the tattoo.
Addiction to tattoos
Peer pressure
Vested interest (people who make a living from doing tattoos can’t be the most unbiased)
Just some of the examples why people would take a chance and get the tattoo/encourage others to go ahead, after the knowledge that there might be an issue. Even if some of the studies now show that there is no risk, or it is low risk, at some point in the future, the information might change, no different from any other field.

Even if the risk is theorotical ( I don’t know that it is) if any tattoo artist argues against letting the customers know, so they can decide for themselves, that right there says something.

Not having heard anything about it is proof that more work need to go into informing everyone, not the procedure must be risk free, or of low risk.