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Board of Body Art Practitioners

How to Get Licensed
Body Piercing
BP
Body piercers perform piercing services, including earlobe piercing, in licensed facilities. Body piercers must adhere to stringent universal precautions for sterilization of needles and equipment, biohazard waste disposal and infection control practices formulated to state and national standards. 
 
Standard body piercing includes all body piercings with the exception of specialty level one piercings with the exception of specialty level one piercings and specialty level two piercings.  Standard body piercing services do not include testes, deep shaft (corpus cavernosa), uvula, eyelids, or sub-clavicle piercings.
 
Earlobe piercing services are limited to the soft lower part of the external ear only, not to include cartilage.

Licensing Requirements for Body Piercing
Click here to access complete licensing requirements for body piercing.
 
Dermal Implanting
Dermal implanting is defined as "...the insertion of an object under the skin of a live human being for ornamentation or decoration." 
 
Dermal implanting and scarification are new fields of practice resulting from the passage of House Bill 2013 in 2011 and are currently prohibited.  Click here for more information.

 
Electrology
ET
Electrologists, through a series of treatments, permanently remove hair from the skin by inserting a sterile needle-conductor into the hair follicle and directing electrical energy toward the hair cell. Electrologists work in private practice, in cosmetology facilities, and in collaboration with dermatologists.

Licensing Requirements for Electrology
Click here to access complete licensing requirements for electrology.
 
Scarification
Scarification is defined as "...injury of the skin to produce a scar on a live human being for permanent ornamentation or decoration."
 
Dermal implanting and scarification are new fields of practice resulting from the passage of House Bill 2013 in 2011 and are currently prohibited.  Click here for more information.

 
Tattooing
Tattoo
Tattoo artists mark or color the skin by inserting nontoxic dyes or pigments into or under the dermal portion of the skin using single-use or sterile needles to form indelible marks for figurative, decorative, cosmetic or medical purposes.

Licensing Requirements for Tattoo Arts
Click here to access complete licensing requirements for tattoo arts.
 
Body Art Facilities
Those providing services to the public in body piercing, electrology, tattooing and other body art fields of practice (scarification and dermal implanting are currently prohibited) must also obtain a facility license in addition to individual practitioner licenses.
 
Under the Board of Body Art Practitioners, a new body art facility license became effective January 1, 2012.  Those issued a body art facility license may provide services to the public in body piercing, electrology and tattooing (and scarification and dermal implanting when the current prohibition is lifted).
 
Note:  Body art facility owners must hire/use only licensed body art practitioners in licensed body art facilities.

 
Facility Licenses Before 2012
Facility licenses issued prior to January 1, 2012 limit facility license holders to provide services only in the individual field of practice for which the facility license was issued.  In other words:
  • Body piercing can be provided only in a licensed body piercing facility.

  • Electrology can be provided only in a licensed electrology facility.

  • Tattooing can be provided only in a licensed tattoo facility. 

Facility license holders issued individual field of practice facility licenses prior to January 1, 2012 may continue to provide services only for the specific field of practice for which the facility license was orignally issued. 
 
These individual field of practice facility license holders must apply and qualify for a new body art facility license on or before the electrology, body piercing or tattoo license becomes inactive. 

 
Other Facility Types, Forms
The Oregon Health Licensing Agency (OHLA) also issues event, mobile and temporary facility licenses.
 
Click here to access facility applications on the Forms page.

 
Body Art Facility Count
The number of active body art facility licenses shown in Licensing by the Numbers reflects the total number of body art facility licenses issued since January 1, 2012.
 
The number of body art facility licenses will gradually increase and the number of individual field of practice facility licenses will decrease and eventually be phased out as body piercing, electrology and tattooing facility license holders switch to a body art facility license upon renewal.