DR. WALLACE: My boyfriend is a great guy and I love him very much. He doesn't do drugs, he doesn't smoke, and he doesn't drink hard liquor. His only very small vice is that he loves beer and he drinks two to six beers a day and a few more on the weekend. I've never seen him drunk, but once in a while he does get tipsy. He never drives after having a few beers and that's good.

Terry is a high school graduate and has a good job working for a construction company. I graduated from high school this year and I'm not sure if I will go to college, or work with my sister in her hair salon. Terry and I have talked about getting married someday, but no date has been set.

My parents like Terry and they know that the two of us are semi-serious, but they're worried about his drinking. Last week my parents had a talk with me about his drinking problem. They like him, but my dad said that almost every time he has been close to him, his breath smelled like stale beer.

I told them that Terry has never been in trouble because of drinking a few beers and that beer is a lot less alcoholic than hard liquor, but they don't see it that way. They say that alcohol is alcohol and that Terry has a drinking problem.

What can I say to convince them that he doesn't have a drinking problem? They should be happy that he is drug-and liquor-free and stop worrying about a few beers.B— Sunny, San Diego, Calif.

SUNNY: I don't blame your parents for being worried because Terry does have a drinking problem. You keep using the word "few" when you talk about his beer consumption, but you really mean "many." Drinking beer every day, and habitually having breath that reeks of alcohol, is evidence that someone has a drinking problem. Terry might even be an alcoholic. Not all alcoholics are stumbling drunks.

Don't kid yourself that beer is a more benign substance than hard liquor. One can or bottle of beer contains the same amount of alcohol as an ounce of hard liquor.

You should do everything possible to convince Terry to stop drinking. I doubt that he can do it by himself, which is why you should encourage him to seek assistance from Alcoholics Anonymous. Look them up in the white pages of your local telephone book.

I WANT A TEMPORARY TATTOO

DR. WALLACE: I'm going to get a temporary tattoo on my ankle, just for the fun of it. I'm told that it will last about three weeks and then fade away. That's all I want. I saw my girlfriend get a temporary tattoo and the dye was injected into her skin, but it did fade away, and after a month she had no trace of the tattoo. What makes a tattoo permanent instead of temporary? I don't want to wind up with a permanent one. — Nameless, Reno, Nev.

NAMELESS: For permanent tattoos, the dye is injected into the middle layer of skin (dermis). Temporary tattoos wear off in a few weeks because the dye is applied to the outer layer, or epidermis.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. E-mail him at rwallace@thegreatestgift.com. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.