This is 31-year-old Loni Tate. I bet she wishes she would have done some research before she got her tattoo. She ended up going to Harlem's Black Ink Tattoo Studio, which was featured on a reality TV show on VH1, her experience ended with her being hospitalized with an infection and permanent scarring. That is so messed up! Tate, who is a tattoo aficionado, said, "I have never been through anything like that."
The Harlem native got her first tattoo, a large Day of the Dead skull on her back, in 2012. She says she thinks tattoos are cool and a good way to express yourself. Tate said she went to the Lenox Avenue shop for her sixth tattoo because she's a fan of "Black Ink Crew," the VH1 show about the business. Tate said that she got a tattoo there back in January of 2014 on her arm of a butterfly flying out of a skull, which was very happy with. But her return trip three months later for a custom rose design on her forearm by another artist turned into a nightmare.
The artist, Kelvin Cepeda, said he had to leave for "an event" about three hours in, and told her to come back the next day so he could finish her up. She went back the next day and was surprised to see he had a tattoo gun already set up when she walked in. Real tattoo artists normally open the needles and set everything up in front of you. The red on black and the black on red design came out just as she hoped, but three days later, Tate was in excruciating pain. She texted Cepeda about the pain, but he told her she'd feel better in a couple days. Tate didn't feel better and the pain got worse and worse.
Tate said, "I felt like my arm was on fire, like I'd been burned." The ink started swelling and oozing out and Tate wound up in the hospital for four days while doctors battled the deep infection. Tate believes Cepeda used a dirty tattoo needle on her. She's suing the the shop for unspecified damages, while her lawyer is calling for stricter regulations for city tattoo shops. He's absolutely right! When you get a tattoo, it's almost like undergoing minor surgery. You have to be able to trust these artists and the environment needs to be a safe one.
This is the third lawsuit brought against Black Ink. Another action earlier this month involved permanent scarring left on the breast of a woman from South Carolina, who'd asked Black Ink artists to cover her old unicorn and horseshoe tattoos with fruits and vegetables to reflect her new interest in cooking. Black Ink Crew is scheduled to return for a third season on VH1 this August. VH1 might want to rethink using this shop as their shop to promote. This is horrible. I've never seen an infection like this in all my years covering tattoo shops. One of the questions I always ask is about the sterilization process in their shops. I always get a thorough answer from the shop's owner or manager. Many tattoo artists are certified to work with blood. I'm not so sure Black Ink has too many certified artists or this would have never happened.
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