Legislation passed by the 2023 Indiana General Assembly under Senate Enrolled Act 4 (SEA 4) identified twenty-three Core Public Health services for purposes of public health laws. Core public health services define basic services to be provided by local health departments or through local health department contracts or grants with an entity, including:
- Sanitary operation of tattoo parlors and body piercing facilities under rules adopted by the state department under IC 16-19-3-4(c). (10)
- Sanitary operations of facilities where eyelash extensions are applied under rules adopted by the state department under IC 16-19-3-4.5
The purpose of the Tipton County Tattoo and Body Piercing program is to minimize public health risk. The Tipton County Health Department promotes sanitary operation of tattoo and body piercing establishments. The Tipton County Health Department regulates tattoo and body piercing establishments and artists according to Indiana Department of Health Administrative Code 410 IAC 1-5-1 and Tipton County Ordinance BOCO 2025-06.
Before getting a tattoo or body piercing, you have the right:
- To have clean, disposable gloves worn at all times while tattooing or body piercing
- To have practitioners’ hands washed with soap and running water immediately before and after glove use and hands dried with single use towels
- To have single-use disposable razors used for shaving the area to be tattooed
- To have single-use razors properly disposed of immediately after use
- To have single-use, sterile needles used for tattooing or body piercing
- To have the piercing gun cleaned and properly disinfected after each use
- To have single-use containers used for each dye
- To have tattooing or body piercing provided in a space that is not a living area or in a room next to a living area
- To have no animals present in the same area as tattooing or body piercing work except in the case of service animals or patrol dogs
- To have no eating, drinking, smoking or using makeup in the same work area as the tattoo artist or body piercer
- To have the working area cleaned with an approved cleanser after each customer’s work is completed
- To have a tattoo artist or body piercer who is in good health
- Tattoo artists or body piercers with diarrhea, vomiting, fever over 100 degrees, rash, coughing, jaundice (yellow skin), or drainage from an open wound may NOT pro-vide tattooing or body piercing services