For many years now tattoos are part of the current aesthetic among the population. Today many people have a tattoo decorating their skin. Not only among the younger population, but this trend has been extrapolated to people of any age.
When you get a tattoo, you think about many things. You think what kind of drawing you want to make, if it will be colored or black and white. But above all, what you think the most is, in which part of the body do you want it make. Since it will be part of your skin for the rest of your life.
It tienes tattoos in the lumbar area and you are pregnant, it is very possible that you have doubts as to whether you can get an epidural. It is logical that you have these doubts, since it has been said for some years that they are not compatible.
Epidural and lumbar tattoos
For many years, it has been thought that when injecting the water used for epidural anesthesia, ink pigments could be introduced in the epidural spaces.
Therefore, anesthetists refused and still do, to apply anesthesia to pregnant women who have tattoos in the lower back.
The problem is that if the puncture is made directly on the tattooed area, there is a risk that the pigments will penetrate. This could have short and long term consequences, such as infections or some type of inflammatory neuropathy.
But really no case of patients has been detected, who have derived in any of these pathologies. For what more and more anesthetists and dermatologists, that approve the use of epidural anesthesia in patients who have tattoos in the lumbar areas.
Find out before your delivery
However, the majority of anesthetists still follow the initial belief. Therefore, if you are pregnant and have a tattoo in the lower back, you should inform yourself well. Pask directly to the anesthetist who is going to treat you in your delivery.
You may not have the ability to speak directly to the specialist, but you can discuss it with your midwife. He will surely be able to solve your doubts. But you have to get used to the idea that the most likely thing is that you cannot use the epidural.
Therefore, we already know that it is proven that it is not incompatible. Epidural could be applied to women with tattoos without any risk. But until you reach a common ground, you will most certainly not find an anesthesiologist who takes the risk.