tattoos of Catholic images: sin?

[surfinpure]

http://members.cox.net/jimmyakin/x-archives-040306.htm

Here's what Jimmy Akin has to say about it:

Mutilation, as understood by the Catechism and moral theology in general, involves more than simply making a change in one's body. Otherwise having an ear pierced or even getting a manicure or a haircut would count as mutilation. Instead, mutilation must involve some kind of impairment of function in the body (like cutting off a hand out taking out an organ). The degree of impairment then tells us the gravity of the mutilation.
Since tattoos do not involve an impairment of body function, they do not count as mutilation. You are correct about that.
You are also correct about some of the other body . . . uh . . . "modifications" that are being done today would seem to count as mutilation. I don't know that much about tongue and cheek piercing. I'd have to do research about whether they involve long-term risk of infection. But tongue splitting would seem to be a prime example. Not only does it impair the tongue's role in eating and talking, it also would seem to make an immoral statement of some kind due to its snake-like connotations. It also has an even higher risk associated with it due to the fact that the tongue has significant blood vessels in it and a split requires a longer time to heal, with risk of infection and bleeding. As a result, many doctors are opposed to the practice.