Ariana Marciano is adding to her collection of about 75 tattoos at Body Electric, a tattoo and piercing studio on trendy Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. "I think they're so cool and I think they're visually really nice to look at," she says. There's a ram's head, an elk, a green-and-peach praying mantis, a love bug and a moth. Today she's getting a ladybug.
"I love bugs," Marciano, 23, says. "I think they're kind of overlooked." In about 20 minutes, a small ladybug with dots on its back and a bit of rusty orange takes its place on her elbow.Marciano is part of a trend; 38 percent of millennials have at least one tattoo, according to the Pew Research Center, and 23 percent have a piercing somewhere other than an earlobe. That compares to just 6 percent of boomers with tattoos, and 1 percent with other piercings.
The nation's pediatricians, who want teenagers and young adults to be aware of potential health issues with tattoos and piercings, released their first-ever recommendations on health and safety on Monday.
The report finds that most people who have a tattoo (86 percent) have never regretted getting one, and 30 percent says it makes them feel sexier.
But despite the popularity of body art, "Most of my medical colleagues don't know regulations in the states, complication rates or later impact on young people when looking for a job," says Dr. Cora Breuner. She's a member of the division of adolescent medicine at Seattle Children's Hospital who chaired the AAP Committee on Adolescence that wrote the recommendations.