Tattoos Spell ‘Keep Out’ at Blood Drives : Health: Many would-be donors are finding that less-than-year-old body art or piercing disqualifies them. The ban is causing a ripple effect in nation’s blood supply.

FRANKFORT, Ky. —  Chris Wood waited in line for a blood drive at Western Hills High School, ready to do his public service.

First, a scan of the list of disqualifiers: anemia, antibiotic usage, abnormal blood pressure. No problem, Wood thought.

But as he plunged farther down the list, he spied another disqualifier: tattoos.

Oops. He wasn’t expecting that.

That was in 1998, his junior year. Wood, who is bound for Western Kentucky University in the fall, had gotten a jester’s head tattoo on his hip while on spring break.

At the same time, he unwittingly disqualified himself as a blood donor for one year. He wasn’t alone. Blood-donation workers say it happens routinely.

The rage for body art, including tattoos and piercing, is cutting into the pool of prospective blood donors, particularly teens and young adults.

At Iroquois High School in Louisville, about 20 students who preregistered for a Red Cross blood drive this year were turned away when they returned from spring break with freshly inked tattoos.

“Everything has a ripple effect on the blood supply,” said Melissa McMillan, spokeswoman for America’s Blood Centers, an umbrella organization based in Washington, D.C.

Blood centers adhere to Food and Drug Administration rules. Anyone who gets a tattoo or has a piercing of a body part other than the ear cannot donate blood for 12 months.

“That’s just to make sure that if any infection developed, it wouldn’t pose any potential threat to the U.S. blood supply. It’s a layer of safety,” McMillan said.

The loss of potential donors because of tattoos has been palpable if not drastic, blood-center officials said.

At the Red Cross in Louisville, 6% of deferrals this year through June--273 people in all--were due to tattoos, piercings and accidental needle sticks, spokeswoman Lisa Brosky said. Most were tattoos, she said.

Of that total, 185 prospective donors were under age 30, she said. A fifth of those deferred were 17, the minimum age for blood donors, or 18, the legal age for a tattoo or piercing without parental or guardian consent.

The Red Cross needs 500 pints of blood per day. It collected 65,000 pints in the first six months of the year.

“Losing 273 doesn’t sound like much, except these people could have donated three times” in six months, Brosky said, adding that the actual loss probably is higher.

For blood drives at Louisville-area schools, the Red Cross routinely posts a sign at the door about the deferral rule for people with tattoos. Many turn away on the spot.

At Lexington-based Central Kentucky Blood Center, deferrals are highest in the March-April and September-October periods, traditional times for blood drives on campuses, spokeswoman Marsha Berry said.

Many of those turned away are first-time donors who do not know the rules, “particularly on the high school scene, because that’s the first time in their life they can donate,” Berry said.

Tattoos and body piercings are lumped in a category with acupuncture and electrolysis. It has been the No. 4 reason for deferrals for the last two years, trailing anemia, blood pressure and use of antibiotics, according to figures supplied by Berry.

Some question the need. Sean McNally, a new Western Hills graduate, said the tattoo parlor he patronized during spring break this year in Destin, Fla., was “almost hospital-like.”

A regular blood donor, McNally said he knew the tattoo on his back--a Chinese symbol meaning “to seek”--would disqualify him for a year. “I guess if there’s a surplus of blood, better safe than sorry,” he said. But if there were a shortage, “I’d take the risk.”