CHECK-UP:Tattoos carry a number of health risks including blood-borne infections and allergic reactions
MY 15-YEAR-OLD daughter wants to get a small tattoo on her shoulder. Although I’m not too concerned about the idea, her father is dead against it on health grounds. What are the health risks associated with tattoos?
Tattoos have become very popular with young people. Apart from the health risks, what might be considered cool at 15 is likely to be regretted later in life.
Tattoos are permanent designs made on the skin by the insertion of pigments into the top layer of the skin. A needle connected to a tube containing the dye repeatedly pierces the skin leaving a tiny droplet of ink under the top layer.
A tattoo can take from a few minutes to a couple of hours to complete depending on the size and complexity of the design. Apart from traditional body adornment, tattoos can be used to provide permanent make-up in the form of eye liner, lipstick and eyebrows.
Your husband is right to be concerned about the possible health risks and adverse reactions associated with tattoos. These include contracting a blood-borne infection such as HIV and hepatitis or skin infections such as impetigo or cellulitis. Allergies to the inks can occur and unsightly scar tissue can form around the site of the tattoo.
Granulomas – where small bumps can develop around the tattoo ink in reaction to what the body sees as a foreign substance – or excessive scarring (keloid scarring) can develop. Very rarely, burning or swelling can occur over a tattoo when the person undergoes an MRI scan.
Certain inks which contain iron oxide and heavy metal pigments can interfere with the quality of the image making the interpretation of the scan more difficult. Research is being carried out into the short- and long-term safety of tattoo ink.
But isn’t it easy to have a tattoo removed?
Tattoos are meant to be permanent and are not easily removed. Laser surgery uses pulses of light through the top layer of the skin where it is absorbed by the pigment in the tattoo. This induces a low-grade inflammation which allows the body to process the altered inks.
Dermabrasion requires the skin to be numbed and the skin containing the tattoo to be sanded off. Finally the tattoo may be surgically removed with the edges of the remaining skin stitched together.
All methods of removal carry the risk of scarring and skin discolouration.