Henna tattoos under investigation

Media reports about henna tattoos gone wrong have prompted the health department to launch an investigation into the practice.

The department is investigating whether henna tattooing should be regulated and what conditions should be imposed, Health Inspectorate manager John Attard Kingswell told The Times.

The department is investigating the possibility of establishing what type of henna paint can be used.

The investigation follows reports in the British press claiming that an eight-year-old boy - Owen Gillvray - could be "scarred for life" after having a dragon "tattooed" with henna on his back while holidaying in Malta.

At least two British papers, The Yorkshire Post and Doncaster Today, reported how the boy was on holiday with his parents, brother and sister. All three siblings got henna tattoos and had them re-coloured as a last-day treat since the tattoos had started fading.

The boy started feeling uncomfortable on the flight home and on arrival in the UK the tattoo started itching. His mother told the Doncaster Today that even before she lifted his top she knew that something was wrong "because the pus had soaked through his shirt".

The initial advice from the doctor was to apply a cream, but the situation got worse and the boy was taken to hospital.

Mrs Gillvray said one of the doctors even asked her whether she had checked that the tattooist had used clean needles and "was shocked when I told him no needles were used and it was just painted on".

Additionally, in a letter that appeared in yesterday's The Times, a reader complained of similar problems after having two henna tattoos done in summer.

The reader said that just hours after having the tattoos - one on the lower back and another on the ankle - he felt intense itching and later redness, and the next morning tiny blisters, embossed in the shape of both tattoos, were oozing pus.

Mr Attard Kingswell said that to date, only one complaint had reached his office, but owing to recent media reports, the Ministry of Health, through the Public Health Department, had launched an investigation.

Currently, the Public Health Department is only regulating tattooists "by virtue of the Tattooing Control Act", adding that henna tattoos fall outside the scope of the act.