Forum for Nordic Dermato-Venereology Nr 4, 2019 | Page 5

Dermato-Venereology in the Nordic Countries
Tattoos and Body-piercings among French Teenagers
N icolas K luger 1,2 , L aurent M isery 3 , S ophie S eité 4
and
C harles T aieb 5,6
Dermatology, Venereology, Allergology, Skin and Allergies Hospital, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Central
Hospital, Meilahdentie 2, PO Box 160, FIN-00029, Helsinki, Finland, 2 ”Tattoo” Consultation, Department of Dermatology,
Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, 3 Department of Dermatology, University
Hospital of Brest, Brest, 4 La Roche-Posay Laboratoire Dermatologique, Levallois-Perret, 5 FIMARAD, Hopital Necker Enfants
Malades, Paris, and 6 Scientific Director, European Market Maintenance Assessment, France. E-mail: [e-mail].
orcid 0000-0002-5225-8316
1
The prevalence of tattooing and body
piercing (BP) in the French population
aged ≥15 years are approximately 17%
(1) and 12% (2), respectively. According
to various European and North American
studies (3), the specific prevalence of tat-
tooing and BP among teenagers is approx-
imately 7–15% and 20–30%, respectively.
We performed an analysis, extracted from
our previous survey conducted online
between April and August 2017 (1, 2),
focusing on tattoos and BP among French
teenagers. We reviewed the responses of
175 teenagers aged 15–18 years extracted
from a representative sample of 5,000
individuals from the general population
(3.5% of the population). We enquired
about demographics, smoking, BP (soft-
ear lobe excluded), tattoos, hesitation, re-
grets, and motivations. Quality of life was
evaluated using the SF-12 ® health survey.
B ody
piercing
The results showed that 9.7% of respond-
ents currently had ≥ 1 BP (girls 13.6%,
boys 7.4%), 5.7% had 1 BP and 4.0%
had > 1 BP (Table I). Teenagers with BP
were more likely to smoke (47% vs 15%,
p = 0.004), girls especially (55.5% vs 15%,
p = 0.003). The most common body parts
for piercings were the external part of
the ear (54.5%/3.4% of the total survey
population), the inner part of the ear
(27.3%/1.7%), followed by the nose, belly
button and nipple (9.1% each/0.6%). The
results showed that 40.9% hesitated be-
fore their first BP, but only 5.9% expressed
regret. Motivations included embellish-
Forum for Nord Derm Ven 2019, Vol. 24, No. 4
Table I. Characteristics of the study population for body piercing (BP) (15–18 years)
Prevalence by sex, n (%)
Has
Has ever had
Smoking, n (%)
Total
With BP
Total
n = 175 Male
n = 109 Female
n = 66 p-value a
17 (9.7)
22 (12.6) 8 (7.4)
12 (11.0) 9 (13.6)
10 (15.1) < 0.001
NS
32 (18.3)
8 (47)* 22 (20.2)
3 (37.5) 10 (15.0)
5 (55.5)** 5 (41.7)
5 (41.7)
2 (16.7) 8 (80)
2 (20)
0 (0) NS
–
–
1 (12.5) 0 (0) NS
3 (25)
2 (16.7)
2 (16.7)
3 (25)
0 (0)
0 (0)
1 (8.3)
2 (16.7) 8 (80)
3 (30)
1 (10)
0 (0)
0 (0)
0 (0)
1 (10)
1 (10) 0.03
NS
NS
–
–
–
NS
NS
Hesitations before the first BP b , n (%)
Not at all
13 (59.1)
A bit
7 (31.8)
A lot
2 (9.1)
Regrets
No regrets
17 (94) c
Self-reported motivations for getting BP d , n (%)
Body embellishment
11 (50)
Individuality, distinction
5 (22.7)
Body appropriation
3 (13.6)
Eroticism, sexuality
3 (13.6)
Commitment
1 (4.5)
Tradition, culture
0 (0)
Endurance/stamina
1 (4.5)
No reason
3 (13.6)
Quality of life SF-12, mean±SD
BP
Physical composite score
53.3±7.3
Mental composite score
40.5±12.3
No BP (ref.)
Physical composite score
54.9±6.8
Mental composite score
41.4±9.6
Self-reported side-effects, n (%)
No
13 (59.1)
Yes, once
5 (22.7)
Yes, waxing and waning
2 (9.1)
Yes, persistent
2 (9.1)
Healing problems
2 (22)
Irritation
3 (33.3)
Infection
7 (77.8)
Itch
1 (11.0)
*p = 0.004
**p = 0.003
NS***
NS***
6 (50)
2 (16.7)
2 (16.7)
2 (16.7)
1 (16.7)
1 (16.7)
5 (83.3)
0 (0)
7 (70)
3 (30)
0 (0)
0 (0)
1 (33)
2 (66)
2 (66)
1 (33)
NS
–
–
–
NS
NS
NS
NS
Fischer’s exact test or Student’s t-test.
The overall respondent’s number is 22: 5 teenagers, who had their BP removed, self-reported
their motivations for getting a BP and their hesitations before their first BP.
c
Out of 17 responses.
d
Total over 100% as respondents could give several answers.
*p=0.004 is for the total column (smokers with BP versus smokers without BP).
**p=0.003 is for the femal column (female smokers with BP versus female smokers without BP).
***BP compared with no BP
NS: not significant (p > 0.05).
a
b
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