Knocked out and inked up: Why WA doctors are warning against Bali’s pain-free tattoo fad

Perth doctors are sounding the alarm over a new tattoo trend where people are opting to go under general anaesthesia for hours and wake up covered in ink.

Thousands of people have flocked to Bali this year to receive the procedure which can have up to nine tattoo artists working on a person at a time.

While a full-body tattoo would typically take multiple sessions over a number of days, the Bali tattoo trend achieves the same result in 10 hours under anaesthesia.

Kuta tattoo artist Madhe Ink says Australians have made up the majority of his clientele.

“From last year, talking about percentage, maybe 70 per cent is [from] Australia, and the rest is America, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, like all over the world,” he said.

The artist says that people have to go through two checkups before being allowed to go under general anaesthesia which include a form and a medical examination.

“The first checkup … you need to fill all the forms first. You need to be honest with everything. Your symptoms, your sickness, everything,” he said.

“And after this … we need to take you to the hospital to do a medical checkup. That is the last checkup you need to do to make sure you are possible to do anaesthesia after that or not.”

Australian studios can charge tens of thousands of dollars for a full-body tattoo, but those travelling to Kuta for the art to be done under general anaesthesia can pay $16,000.

The tattooist insisted that the procedures are done in a licensed hospital and not a standard tattoo parlour.

“We need to do that in the proper hospital that has an operation room, doctor and everything there,” he said.

Getting a tattoo under general anaesthesia is not available in Australia, with doctors fearing about the additional health risks for what should be a simple procedure.

But Australian Medical Association WA president Kyle Hoath said he had concerns over whether the procedures in Bali are being done in a safe environment with a trained anesthetist.

“A general anesthetic is a serious procedure. We’re talking about being unconscious for multiple hours while somebody has to keep you breathing, keep you alive,” he told 9News Perth.

“We never take a general anesthetic as a simple thing. This is quite a complicated part of the overall procedure and carries with it pretty extreme risks.

“So I always kind of caution that if we go to that extreme of an anesthetic for something that can be done without, we should generally try and preference doing it without because otherwise we’re adding unnecessary risk into people’s lives.”

Hoath believes the procedure will likely never be done in Australia.

“This is not done in Australia for a reason. It’s a completely unnecessary risk to add into having a tattoo,” he said.

“Tattooing can be done safely and can be done in safe sterile environments, but there is no need to go through a general anesthetic, which adds considerable risk to the procedure, just for convenience’s sake.

“That’s not convenient – that’s dangerous and that’s unsafe, and something that should be avoided.

“We don’t see this happening in Australia, and I can’t imagine we ever will because it’s an unnecessary complication and risk to add into what should be something that’s pretty straightforward in getting a tattoo.”

Using general anaesthesia to get tattooed comes with the same medical risks as when it is used for surgery.

“Surgery and anesthetic can carry with it a risk of death,” Hoath said.

“So doing that in an environment where you don’t know how the credentialing is done, where you don’t know the safety and the protocols and the rigor in which things are done safely is something you should be very cautious about.

“An anesthetic, just for convenience, is a dangerous proposition, and not one I think you should entertain.”

One American man who was at Madhe Ink last week was turned away from getting both legs tattooed under anaesthesia due to health concerns.

“I have an irregular heartbeat, so they did not allow me to do anaesthesia,” he said.

As for why the New Yorker wanted to get the procedure done as opposed to sitting in the chair the old-fashioned way, the answer was simple – pain.

“Because I don’t want to feel pain, but no pain, no gain, right? I was gonna do both legs in one shot, but now I gotta do three sessions, three days of pain,” he said.

The artist behind the studio says he thinks people are opting to go under to save time and pain.

“Let’s just say a full arm on average, we finish that in two days. While under anaesthesia … let’s say arm and leg, we can finish that in 10 hours, that’s quick compared to without anaesthesia,” he said.

But despite doing the procedures, he still advocates for people sitting in the chair to get a tattoo.

“If you really don’t have time, but have money, go do it,” he said.

“If you pass [the tests] you can do anaesthesia. If not, sorry, you can feel the pain like a man.

“No pain, no gain.”

with 9News Perth