He told newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday that tattoos were a form of incision made on the body by a beautician or an individual in order to beautify the body.
``It can come as a form of cosmetics or a sign of belonging to an organisation or a club or by a group of people for identification mark.
``These days, it is becoming common in our society, almost everyone does tattoo, it could be done traditional as a form of tribal mark,'' he said.
He explained that it was usually practised in the south western and northern parts of the country.
According to him, the incision could be neuronal, causing injury to the basic functional unit of the nerves system.
He, however, said that one could also contract infections such as bacteria that were common in a dirty environment through the process.
Adebayo added that there could be other deadly infections such as HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C among others because the needles and instruments used were might not be sterilised.
He said this could lead to the transfer of infection from one person to another.
``It is said that in some part of the world that most HIV infections were transmitted by this act of incision.
``So it is very easy to transfer diseases or infection to another person through this process,'' he said, adding that traditional marks practitioners did not know how to sterilise their instruments.
He said that in some parts of the world, the practice had been curtailed to control the transmission of infections.
He said there could also be a problem where the skin tissue would grow excessively disfiguring the individual which could lead to surgery.
The doctor said that this act was mostly common in the Western world and not in the tropics, adding there was a lot of danger associated with it.
``I think it should be discouraged.
``In the world, the prevalence of communicable disease is increasing, there is the need to discourage body piercing,” he said.
Adebayo said that piercing and tattoo were also common among drug addicts, leading to the transmission of HIV.
The doctor highlighted two ways it could be prevented which could be primary and secondary prevention levels.
He explained that the primary level was to prevent it in the first place, considering the health hazard, adding that one should think twice not to get involved and avoid disease.
``For secondary, those who have done it should not do more on their skin, but seek for medical check to screen for HIV, hepatitis among others,” he said.
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