[svcw]

I have had an epidural, the needle is 832 feet long (looks that way while in labor, probably about three inches long)
I have a tattoo and the needle length was about 1/8 of an inch.
A tattoo needle could not reach the spine.

[Obadiah]

Just to clarify, this is to say that a sterile epidermic needle for an epidural, or other similar procedures, often times needs to pierce the skin at the point of the tattoo and go through the ink of the tattoo. I have read in medical journals that this could cause, perhaps in theory only, the needle to take a small piece of the tattoo ink with it in the injection. In this particular case they were speaking of an epidural procedure and having the risk factor of tattoo ink contaminating subcutaneous tissue.