The goal of Clean Field procedures is to interrupt the Chain of Contamination. In other words, we set a limit, saying contamination ends here! and isolate that contamination so the reservoirs are removed from the environment to protect subsequent clients.

To achieve this, fresh materials are used with each client, where possible, and they are disposed of afterward. Where impractical, as with tools used in the piercing procedure, the tools are scrubbed, repackaged and re-sterilized after each client. Even the working surfaces must be refreshed after each client. In addition, disposal of the waste material and storage of contaminated items must be controlled to prevent that contamination from coming back to a client.

Sterile vs Clean

Calling something sterile implies a guarantee that pathogenic organisms are absent. No such guarantee can be made in any aesthetics or body piercing studio. If a thing has been sterilized, it is free of pathogens only until it has been exposed to them again. At the moment of exposure, it can no longer be considered sterile. For this reason, we consider the procedures described in this manual to be Clean Field procedures, not Sterile Field. Although many of the same principles apply, there is no guarantee of an absence of pathogens in the working field. By the same token, if your studio describes their technique as Sterile Field, they do not understand what they are saying, and probably have little understanding of what they are doing.