A recent study shows almost 1 in 4 people between the ages of 18 and 50 have some ink under their skin.

And one local artist says that means more people are at risk of falling victim to poor work and unsanitary shops.

Jenn Paulson is a tattooist and body piercer with Skin Prints in downtown Eau Claire. She says she’s seen a lot of bad work in her day.

“We do lots of cover-ups, we do lots of re-works,” Paulson said. “We send people to the Health Department to file complaints. We send them to doctors."

One of Paulson’s fellow artists says it should only take about a week for a healthy tattoo to heal. Unless it gets infected. She says that can ruin the work.

"Staph infection seems to be the biggest one we're seeing and there's a real lack of experience about how to prevent it,” Paulson said.

She says that lack of experience may be linked to the artist licensing process.

"The Health Department's allowing almost anybody to be licensed for body piercing or tattooing, regardless of schooling, blood-borne pathogen classes, CPR, if you have your money, you can be licensed."

"That is the case,” Courtenay Johnson with the Eau Claire City/County Health Department said. “We have new state regulations in the process of getting approved that would require additional education on blood-borne pathogens, CPR, a lot of medical course work that would be required of new practitioners."

Johnson is a Registered Sanitarian with the Health Department. She says right now, anyone who wants to get licensed as a tattoo artist simply has to fill out an application, show an I.D. and pay $60.

"I haven't ever had to deny an application,” Johnson said.

Then there’s the tool that delivers the pain…the needle. According to state regulations, tattoo needles can be re-used, but they have to be sterilized first.

"Most tattoo shops in Eau Claire do not reuse needles,” Johnson said. “It is an option, but it's not very common."

So, how can you keep yourself safe? Johnson says like anything else, you should shop around before you let that needle hit your skin.

"Go to numerous shops, not only to check out their visibility, what they look like, who the potential artists are going to be.”

Johnson says you should also stop by the Health Department before having any ink work done. All of her tattoo shop inspection reports are available for you to check out.