Health Risks Of Getting A Tattoo On Your Skin

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Decorating the skin with ink involves a number of risks that users should be aware of before getting a tattoo, even if it is done in a place that complies with health and hygiene requirements.

An increasing number of people are embracing this aspect of body art, and tattoo artists are becoming cult figures. These professionals go on tour in the style of rock stars and generate long waiting lists of months or even years to stamp their designs on the skin of their clients.

Tattoo artists must not only take care of the artistic quality of their designs. They must also take extreme hygienic and sanitary precautions in their studios and must have knowledge of anatomy in order to be able to pierce the skin or draw on it, minimising the risk of undesirable side effects, of which they are obliged to inform users. The main ones are:

Allergic reactions

Tattoo inks are composed of organic elements, chemicals and metals such as nickel, cobalt, chromium or manganese, all of which have a high allergenic potential. It is therefore not uncommon for dermatitis and allergies of varying severity to develop after getting a tattoo.

In fact, in the USA, inks containing mercury sulphide or cinnabar, used in the manufacture of red pigments, have been banned due to the frequency or special severity of some of these reactions.

Problems with MRI scans

There are a few cases of people with tattoos who have undergone MRI scans and reported burning and swelling. There has also been speculation that certain pigments may alter the results of the images, decreasing the effectiveness of the diagnosis.

Well, these are the main problems and health risks of tattoos. The most important thing is to take into account the hygiene and health measures of the studio where you go to get a tattoo; then, yes, comply with the necessary care of the new tattoos and observe a correct healing process so as not to suffer major inconveniences.

Infections

Poorly sterilised equipment, even if the needles are new, can carry the risk of contracting diseases from contaminated blood. For example, hepatitis B and C, as well as tetanus, which is why they do not allow a person to donate blood until 6 to 12 months have passed since their last tattoo.

Keloids

Also called hypertrophic scars, they appear when scar tissue overgrows around a skin lesion, so that when the wound heals and the skin closes, a lumpy, pinkish or purplish shape is visible. Keloids are not dangerous, although they can cause discomfort if they rub against clothing.

Their implications are mainly cosmetic and the only way to remove them is by laser or surgery to reduce their size.

Granulomatosis

This is an immunological and inflammatory reaction that occurs in the presence of agents foreign to the body, which defends itself by encapsulating them in small hard nodules that group together to form red or purplish clusters. These granulomatous reactions are frequent in the presence of chromium, mercury, cobalt and manganese, which are also present in green, red or blue inks.

Other complications of tattoos

There are some consequences of tattoos whose health effects are not known with certainty. A study published in PLoS ONE in 2014 on samples of tattooed corpses showed that they all had blackening of their regional lymph nodes caused by the ink in their tattoos.

In September 2017, a report in the journal Nature confirmed that some of the pigments that form part of tattoo ink are displaced from the original design and accumulate in the lymph nodes, which can cause inflammation and effects that are as yet unknown.

However, the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology maintains that so far there is no evidence that the presence of these pigments in the lymph nodes causes any type of pathology or increases the risk of cancer.

However, they do warn that these dye deposits can lead to serious misinterpretations in certain diagnostic tests.

There are reportedly documented cases of misdiagnosis induced by imaging in which it is difficult to tell the difference between an ink spot and a growing tumour… or even metastasis. Tests to find out, mainly biopsies and surgeries, are invasive, uncomfortable and also carry added risks.

Facts to bear in mind

Finally, specialists remind us that, contrary to popular belief, it is not easy to remove a tattoo with laser (the process is painful, long and very expensive) and that the minimum legal age to get a tattoo or piercing in Spain is 18 years old. Under this age, the minor must present an authorisation signed by both parents or legal guardians.

In these cases, the tattooist must request the ID card of both the minor and the accompanying adult to ensure that the minor has reached the age of 16 and that the accompanying adult is, in fact, one of his/her parents.