DIETING DOESN'T MAKE SENSE...
living better sensibly does.
a rose on my abdomen and a sun
on my lower back," she says.
Ms. Nosanchuk started getting
tatoos while studying at Michi-
gan State University.
"I was 19," she recalls. "I went
with a bunch of friends ... I liked
the results. You want one, then
you want another one. I'm not
trying to break the rules (of Ju-
daism). Tattoos are just attrac-
tive. They're wearable art.
••••••••••••••••••
66
have two
flowers, a sun
and sorority
letters."
Rebecca Nosanchuk
"My husband is tolerant. It's
just of part of my personality.
People are very curious that a
`normal' person would have one.
They're surprised. My mom saw
it one day when I was 20. The
first thing she said to me was,
`Did it hurt?"'
ean-Chris Miller is the edi-
tor of Skin Art, a widely
distributed magazine devot-
ed to tattoos. She says
the popularity of tattoos has
increased greatly in the past five
years.
j
"A lot of artists in Chicago be-
came interested in tattoos in the
1960s and 1970s. Artists like
Tony Fitzpatrick used tattoos in
their paintings," she says. "One
of the things that happened was
that a wave of fine artists began
doing tattooing. This expanded
the range of styles. It increased
the appeal by varying the type
of art. Conventions started to
proliferate. Tattoos in the late
1980s became associated with
cool. They have become associ-
ated less with a criminal ele-
ment."
Mark White, the owner of
White House Tattoos in Ponti-
ac, suggests that the "Lord above
is the ultimate artist. Your body
is a temple. I'm just here to paint
it," he says.
Mr. White has witnessed the
quality of tattoos increase. He
says risks — aesthetic and med-
ical — are minimal, if the
process is carried out by a pro-
fessional.
The major challenge is after-
care, which consists primarily of
keeping the site clean and mois-
turized. Mr. White sterilizes his
equipment in an autoclave, and
he uses each needle only once.
He always wears latex gloves
while working and urges poten-
tial customers to stick with es-
tablished professionals who take
appropriate precautions. He
says that, in his many years of
tattooing, none of his clients has
experienced problems.
The actual tattooing device re-
sembles a pen with a small elec-
tric motor attached to the top.
The motor causes the needle
contained in the "pen" to go back
and forth very quickly. With
each stroke, the needle pene-
trates the epidermis and de-
posits a small amount of
pigment. The artist simply
traces a pattern applied to the
surface of the skin.
The average tattoo at White
House Tattoos costs about $75,
with prices starting around $40.
The time required is usually less
than one hour.
Dr. Neldagae Chisa is a Roy-
al Oak dermatologist. She says
the main medical risks posed by
tattoos are "infections, allergic
reactions, and scarring."
She says proper sterilization
is essential to preventing infec-
tion and diseases, like hepatitis.
Autoclaves are not simple de-
vices, she warns. They must be
well-maintained and effectively
used, or else they can give tat-
too artists and their clients a
false sense of security.
Dr. Chisa has seen small al-
lergic reactions, but not often.
Regarding the pigment used in
tattoos, Dr. Chisa says, "Per-
sonally, I haven't seen prob-
lems," and she is "not aware of
carcinogenic reactions to it."
In recent years, lasers have
been used for a variety of med-
ical purposes, including tattoo
removal. Some of the older laser
treatments left scars, but new-
er treatments are better.
❑
Watch What Goes
Into The Mouth
KATHALEEN ROBERTS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
B
eer didn't cause it, and
crunches won't cure it.
As men's waistbands
swell with their age, the
excess flesh often prompts de-
scriptions like beer belly, mid-
dle-age paunch and beer gut.
But fitness experts say this
fat more accurately reflects gen-
der than benders.
"In the male, the large fat de-
posits happen to go to the mid-
section," said John Krzyton, the
Kathaleen Roberts is a writer for
Copley News Service
manager of an athletic club, who
holds a master's degree in sports
medicine. "Doing 1,000 sit-ups
will not do anything to reduce
that area."
Beer can contribute to obesi-
ty, but more importantly, it's of-
ten paired with diet-busters like
pizza, french fries and chips.
"You don't see anybody out
there with three cups of broccoli
and a beer," explained Richard
Wolff of Wolff Health and Fit-
ness Center in Elgin, Ill.
And spot reduction fails be-
cause the body sheds fat uni-
versally, he added. Sit-ups only
strengthen the abdominal mus-
cles.
"The most important thing
they have to do is aerobic exer-
cise to burn the fat," said John
Peterson, fitness center director
at Joliet Junior College in Illi-
nois. "Of course, the second is
they've got to look out for how
much and what they put in their
mouth."
Men comprise up to half the
area's fitness classes, and most
point to their gut as target A in
INTO THE MOUTH page
H8
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