Permanent rash from tattoos
Larissa Melville completed her traineeship in the editorial team of . After studying biology at Ludwig Maximilians University and the Technical University of Munich, she first got to know digital media online at Focus and then decided to learn medical journalism from scratch.
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.MunichThey adorn the skin of professional footballers and Hollywood stars as well as that of Lieschen Müller next door: tattoos have been considered hip for years. But the colorful pictures are not entirely without risk: the ink under the skin causes severe and, above all, permanent skin irritations more often than expected.
Marie Leger from New York University and her team came to this conclusion in a survey of 300 tattoo wearers between 18 and 69. Of these, around ten percent had reacted violently to their tattoo: almost four percent had an intolerance to the ink with one acute skin reaction noticeable immediately after the session. The remaining six percent had swelling, itching, and rashes to contend with for months or even years. "Some of the reactions seem to be an immune response, but we cannot say in advance who is predisposed to it," reports Leger.
Black better than red
Who got a permanent rash and who didn't depend, among other things, on the color of the tattoo: In over 40 percent of the cases, red ink was the trigger for the skin problems - even though only 36 percent of all participants chose this color. The vast majority had chosen black. The hue caused less irritation, but was still responsible for a quarter of all skin reactions.
"Doctors, and especially consumers, need to be aware of the risks of tattooing," says Leger. In many cases, the reactions are treatable with anti-inflammatory steroids such as cortisone. In some cases, however, laser treatment is necessary to remove the pigments from the skin, adds the dermatologist. Such a procedure is not only expensive and usually requires several passes, it is often more painful than the tattoo itself. It is worrying that only a third of the test subjects with skin problems even sought medical help - most of them asked for advice in the tattoo studio.
Missing regulations
The researchers see a main problem in the non-standardized composition of the ink - each color can contain other ingredients - with the exception of those that are generally prohibited. "It is not yet known whether the skin reactions are caused by certain chemicals in the ink itself or by added substances such as preservatives or brighteners," reports Leger.In addition, it is not clear whether incompatible substances may only develop over time when the chemicals in the skin break down.
More research needed
Even the researchers were very surprised and shocked by the high number of complications. In the future, they want to examine more closely which colors and which components are most frequently responsible for this.
Sources:
Brandy B.G. et al .: Self-reported adverse tattoo reactions: a New York City Central Park study. Contact dermatitis . DOI: 10.1111 / cod.12425
NYU School of Medicine press release dated May 27, 2015
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