At Dragon & Butterfly Tattoo and Piercing studio every precaution is taken to ensure safety and hygiene. State of the art sterilization equipment and procedures are used. We use sterile, single-use needles for all tattoos and piercings. The needles and other instruments are taken out of the packages with the client present. All other supplies are either single use or medically sterilized.

Our sterilization equipment is the same as you would find at the dentists or doctors office. We use hospital grade disinfectant/ decontaminate, such as ARJO and EmPower, to clean and disinfect surfaces and instruments. After initial cleaning with ARJO or EmPower the instruments are rinsed and put in an ultrasonic. Most instrument manufacturers recommend ultrasonic cleaning as the best and most effective way to clean surgical instruments, particularly those with hinges, locks and other moving parts such as those used in piercing. After the ultrasonic cycle is done the instruments are then rinsed under running water and set to dry. The instruments are then put in sterilization pouches and placed in the autoclave, which uses heat, steam and high pressure, for the final stage of the sterilization process. To verify that sterilization has taken place we have the autoclave spore tested regularly by a lab at Dalhousie University