Researchers say as many as 6% of adult New Yorkers who get a tattoo have experienced some form of tattoo-related rash, severe itching or swelling that lasted longer than four months.
Tattoo lovers, beware! Getting inked may come with long-term medical risks and adverse skin reactions that may require laser surgery, a new US study has warned.
Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Centre have found that as many as 6% of adult New Yorkers who get a tattoo have experienced some form of tattoo-related rash, severe itching or swelling that lasted longer than four months and, in some cases, for many years.
"We were rather alarmed at the high rate of reported chronic complications tied to getting a tattoo," said senior study investigator and NYU Langone dermatologist Marie Leger. "Given the growing popularity of tattoos, physicians, public health officials, and consumers need to be aware of the risks involved," said Leger.
Leger said some adverse skin reactions are treatable with anti-inflammatory steroid drugs, but others may require laser surgery. For stronger reactions, surgery is sometimes necessary to remove tattooed areas of the skin or built-up scar tissue and granular skin lesions, which can rise several millimetres on the skin and cause considerable itching and emotional distress, researchers said.
Leger said the study findings, derived from survey interviews with some 300 adults in New York's Central Park in June 2013, mirror those in other European countries, which have only recently begun to monitor medical complications associated with tattoos.
"It is not yet known if the reactions being observed are due to chemicals in the ink itself or to other chemicals, such as preservatives or brighteners, added to them, or to the chemicals' breakdown over time," said Leger.
"The skin is a highly immune-sensitive organ, and the long-term consequences of repeatedly testing the body's immune system with injected dyes and coloured inks are poorly understood," said Leger. "Some of the reactions appear to be an immune response, yet we do not know who is most likely to have an immune reaction to a tattoo," Leger said.
Among the study's other key findings was that similar types of short-term complications, including delayed healing, pain, swelling, and infection within weeks of getting tattooed, occur in as many as 10 % of people. In addition, the data showed that only a third of those who did experience a reaction sought medical advice or help.
Most long-lasting complications occurred in skin regions injected with the two most common tattoo ink colours, red and black. Almost half (44 %) of chronic reactions were to red ink, even though only slightly more than a third (36 %) had tattoos with red ink. One-third of chronic cases involved black ink, while over 90% of tattoos encompass black colouring. The findings appear in the journal Contact Dermatitis.
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