PERMANENT RECORD TATTOOS FROM THE TEEN YEARS CAN BE A REAL PAIN LATER IN LIFE.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

A youthful, impulsive decision can be painful to fix.

Ask Topher Horn, 20, who has gotten eight or nine tattoos in the last couple of years. Now he's a patient of Dr. Tattoff, a niche dermatology practice that specializes in erasing permanent skin art.

Horn has been through the first couple of laser treatments to remove the four ``more amateur ones.''

``I'm keeping the ones that mean something to me and getting rid of the less important ones that are just taking up room,'' the Hollywood resident said this week at the medical group's new Encino office.

Horn, a fashion designer, is one of many in his age group who impulsively got tattooed shortly after hitting legal age, only to wish they had thought about it longer. Judging from the inquiries received by the Dr. Tattoff offices here and in Beverly Hills and Irvine, more underage youths are getting tattooed as well.

``We have patients as young as 14 who come in with their parents who have tattoos they've had for a year,'' said entrepreneur James Morel, who co-owns the Dr. Tattoff practice with Christopher Knight of ``The Brady Bunch'' fame. ``Some of these are done professionally, which as far as I'm aware is illegal. But ... people practice on each other. People have parties and do tattooing in their garage. And it's not uncommon, unfortunately.''

He recalled a frantic woman who called his office early one Saturday morning. ``Her son came home the night before, 16 years old, a tattoo on his arm, and she wanted us to remove it before his father got home. Unfortunately we weren't able to do it that quickly, but we did end up treating him.''

In fact, the concept of illustrated boys and girls is common enough that some schools, such as Chaminade College Prep's middle school in Chatsworth, feel the need to expressly forbid tattoos, ``permanent or otherwise,'' in their dress codes.

Since 1999, California law has prohibited permanent tattooing on anyone under 18, even with parental consent, unless it is prescribed by a physician, say, to mask an injury scar or to alter a gang tattoo. But through word of mouth and the Internet, kids manage to find tattooists who won't check a fake ID too closely or, worse, use do-it-yourself kits.

Dr. Peter Shulman, an Encino pediatrician, says this is one of many battles parents may experience in their children's adolescence, and they must decide whether it's one worth going to the mat for. Parents who have tattoos themselves -- also growing in number -- may have a tough time arguing against them with their own kids.

``If a kid came in and said, `What about a tattoo?' I'd say, `I wouldn't do it. If you change your mind in five years it's going to be a hell of a process to get it off. It's painful, and you're not going to want to do it. I would try not to make a decision that's indelible.'

``Most kids -- they all make mistakes in judgment -- but they have relatively good common sense, at least 75 to 80 percent of the time,'' Shulman said.

``But they're not going to look forward. They're just not. It is all about the present.''

Former motocross star Carey Hart now co-owns Hart & Huntington Tattoo Co. in Las Vegas' Palms Casino Resort. The subject of the A&E reality series ``Inked'' (9 p.m. Wednesdays), he's a walking ad for body art as well as for his hometown, with images of roulette wheels, cards, dice and landmark Strip signage covering his arms and torso.

Although Nevada law allows tattoos on underage kids with parental consent, he turns young customers away.

``Kids shouldn't be making lifelong decisions at 16 years old about what they're going to have on their bodies. I support that 100 percent,'' Hart said. ``And I'm even a perfect example. The very first tattoo I got that I thought was really cool when I was 18 years old, I covered up at 25.

``Worst case, not as many families are together, and Johnny goes home to visit his dad for the summer and he talks his dad into letting him get a tattoo, and all of a sudden I've got the mother screaming at me from Omaha, Nebraska. That's the last thing I need.''

Hart said he even has refused his services to his young relatives, including his brother who just turned 18 (``What you think is cool at 13, 14, 15, 16 is not going to be cool at 25, and especially is not going to be cool at 35,'' Hart advised), and he insists any children he and his tattooed wife, pop star Pink, may have also will have to wait until adulthood.

``I have no problem if my kid wants to have a backpack that has tattoo art on it, or wants to wear a T-shirt that say Hart & Huntington Tattoo or wants to have those little temporary tattoos. It's fun. It's part of being a kid. But I would never let my kid have a tattoo before 18.''

He said most kids have no idea what they're in for once they're tattooed, particularly the negative reactions they may face out in public, in job interviews, or when meeting a boyfriend's or girlfriend's parents.

He suggests that parents make a compromise with a tattoo-inclined teenager to minimize regrets: ``You wait until you're 18, and I'll take you to the best tattooist around, and I will spend $400, and completely overpay just to know that it's going to be by the best artist in the best environment.''

As for poor choices made young, Morel's decision to invest in a tattoo-removal business stemmed from his own experience.

In the '90s, he decided he wanted a tattoo removed, but even in New York City in took him three days to find a place to get it done.

``And it occurred to me right then and there that this is something that should be available in every city as a specialty practice where you go in and have your tattoo removed.''

Morel said his doctors get referrals from tattoo artists, and the team of dermatologists has worked on tattooists themselves.

``Early in your career when you're letting people practice on you, the results aren't always great. So we can take those off and they can put some more advanced work up.''

Josh Smith, 20, is both the patient coordinator and a new patient himself at Dr. Tattoff in Encino.

``A lot of patients come in and say, `Does (laser removal) hurt worse than getting a tattoo on?''' Smith said. ``And I'm like, `I have no idea. I've never had a tattoo on, or one removed.'''

So last week at a tattoo convention in Long Beach, he had the Dr. Tattoff logo etched on his left upper arm. After about four weeks of healing, he'll begin laser removal, a process that can take 10-15 sessions, depending on the colors of the ink.

Horn said despite the topical anesthetic and freezing of the skin, ``It hurts a heck of a lot more than getting a tattoo on -- 20 times worse.''

But he said Dr. Tattoff's fee ($39 per square inch per visit) ``is a good deal. It's worth it.''

Marcia Podell of Winnetka said both her daughters, now 28 and 30, managed to get tattoos at age 16 without either parent's knowledge, let alone consent.

``One of them went to Berkeley for the weekend and came home with it, and the other one just came home with it, and I noticed it when we went shopping for clothes,'' she recalled.

``It was a sweet little butterfly, and since then she's added flowers to it.''

She can laugh now at the memory, but at the time she wasn't amused.

``It was a shock enough for me. Oh my God, I thought I was going to die.''

She said one of her girls later pierced her navel and her nose. Both still are happy with their tattoos.

``It will be interesting to see what happens when they have children,'' Podell said with a chuckle.

``I'm so dying to say, `I told you so.' I can't wait.''

Valerie Kuklenski, [phone]

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CAPTION(S):

7 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) STUCK WITH IT

Many regret their teenage tattoos

(2 -- 3 -- color) Carey Hart of the A&E reality series ``Inked'' is a walking ad for body art as well as Las Vegas, with images of roulette wheels, cards and dice on his skin.

(4 -- 5 -- color) Josh Smith, a patient coordinator at Dr. Tattoff, got this tattoo so he could experience the process of having it removed.

(6 -- 7 -- color) Topher Horn, 20, has already changed his mind about tattoos he had done after he reached the legal age. He's now having many removed at Dr. Tattoff.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer