Western tattooists work with a special electrical instrument, something like a dentist' s drill. It holds a number of very fine needles, which, for the purpose of reproducing the approved drawing, are dipped, in black ink. When the current is switched on, and the instrument passed rapidly over the outline, the action of the needles drives the ink into the skin. The tattooist is constantly wiping away excess ink as he works. This is where skill is so important, for the speed of the instrument means that he must work rapidly over lines which: are almost permanently covered over. The basic drawing then has to be colored in, using the same method but with non-poisonous paint now replacing the ink. The average tattoo contains four or five colors, each injected with a separate instrument. How many needles are used each time will depend on the area to be covered, but it is possible to use as many as ten or twelve, giving up to 3,000 injections a minute. Filling in is a lengthier process than outlining, and,since most people find half an hour under the needles quite enough, a major tattoo can take a number of visits to complete. Every visit will leave the skin sore and stinging, and to prevent infection the area is finally treated with an antiseptic cream and covered with a dressing. After a few days it finally heals over, leaving the new tattoo clearly visible under the skin. And there it stays, for, as those who get tattooed and then thind better of it soon discover, getting rid of the tattoo is a far more difficult business than getting it. The tattooist is powerless to undo what he has done and can only refer unhappy customers to their doctors who, no matter how sympathetic, are able to offer little encouragement. Removing a tattoo, if it can be done at all, has to be by one of two methods, neither of them pleasant or even completely satisfactory, The first is by surgery and skin replacement, an operation which leaves permanent marks. The other possibility is to re-tat-too over the offending design with a special acidbased substance which absorbs the colors as it goes. This is a painful and lengthy process which, though less expensive than private surgery, is still quite costly. 'Tattooing is a thorn in the side of the medical profession', is the view of one Harley Street skin specialist. He receives a constant stream of enquiries about removal, but in most cases the expense and discomfort of having it done make people decide to go on living with their unwanted designs. 'Patients have to want it very much go to through with it ,' he says. 'Those who do are usually the ones who find that they are refused jobs, or cannot get advancement because their hands are decorated.' This is such a common event that responsible tattooists refuse to work on areas which cannot normally be covered up. 'The trouble is that most people don' t think about it until it' s too late.' says one tattooist who had his own hands tattooed some years ago, and freely admits to regretting it. 'I realize now that it looks in bad taste.' The fine needles are used ______.