Toxicology: Are Tattoos Hazardous?
September 7th, 2022
Well… here’s a controversial question. Are tattoos hazardous to your health?
To start on this question, what do I mean by hazardous? Well, broadly speaking, anything that could be detrimental to your health. Not every smoker develops lung cancer, but very few of them can run a mile. Not all toxicity is catastrophic, most is taxing.
Now lets define what tattoo ink is and what are desirable trait for a tattoo ink. Tattoo inks/pigments are any substance that is injected into the body that is visible through the skin typically to create a display on the skin. Desirable traits for a tattoo ink are - easily applied, vibrant color, does not break down, is not metabolized by the body, and is not excreted by the body. If a substance excels at those traits it is an excellent candidate for a tattoo ink.
Just from that definition we have a few red flags being raised. You want something that doesn’t break down, can’t be metabolized, and isn’t readily excreted from the body… all you need is for the substance to be toxic and you have a problem. Hey, it doesn’t even have to be all that toxic to be an issue considering a good ink is meant to be something your body can’t deal with (chronic exposure). The process of applying tattoos is heavily regulated for reasons that are pretty obvious. The process of manufacturing tattoo ink on the other hand… is not regulated… at all.
Okay, question answered. We are done, right? Well I went looking for some literature on the subject… the articles I picked out can be seen below, but to summarize the risk associated with tattoo inks:
Evidence of toxic metals and chemicals in them
Don’t break down and accumulate in lymph nodes and enlarge them
May contain a great deal of unidentified chemicals that can largely contribute to oxidative damage
Many have components that can result in chronic allergic reactions
A criticism of this post would be that seven sources does not a scientific consensus make. True, but I would have just been adding more studies that say that they found toxic substances in tattoo inks. Because I could have done that… there are many more.
“Just because a tattoo ink contains toxic components, it doesn’t mean it will be detrimental to your health. Where are the studies that show that.”
That is correct. There were studies out there that tried to connect tattoos to health outcome, but they were correlative at best. A good causal study on humans would be unethical and rats and mice don’t live nearly as long as humans.
Schreiver et al. found that tattoo ink migrated into lymph nodes and resulted in chronic enlargement and lifetime exposure to whatever was in the tattoo ink. They also found several toxic elements, such as Cr and Ni, in the lymph nodes were derived from tattooing.
Tattoo ink accumulated in enlarged lymph node
Market survey on toxic metals contained in tattoo inks - 2009
Forte et al. sampled a few tattoo inks available on the market.
“On 56 tattoo inks, Cr, Ni and Co exceeded the safe allergological limit of 1 µg/g in 62.5%, 16.1% and 1.8% of cases, respectively.”
Allergological limit is the level that if a chemical/molecule concentration surpasses an allergic reaction is expected.
Assessment of Toxic Metals and Hazardous Substances in Tattoo Inks Using Sy-XRF, AAS, and Raman Spectroscopy - 2019 (European)
Manso et al. analyzed a set of tattoo inks and found Cr, Cu, and Pb concentrations above the maximum levels set by the Council of Europe through the resolution ResAP(2008)1. Additionally, they found the presence of 3 prohibited pigments under ResAP(2008)1.
Bioanalytical evidence that chemicals in tattoo ink can induce adaptive stress responses - 2015
Neale et al. found polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in black tattoo in at twice the recommended level. These PAHs only accounted for 0.06% of the oxidative stress response observed, meaning some unidentified components were accounting for the other 99.94% oxidative damage that was seen.
Influence of a commercial tattoo ink on protein production in human fibroblasts - 2009
Falconi et al. observed that commercial tattoo inks damaged fibroblasts in the skin which resulted an inhibited production of collagen in the skin. This will theoretically make the skin age faster.
Bäumler et al. found that laser treatment of tattoo inks may produce toxic or cancerogenic compounds.
Identification of pigments related to allergic tattoo reactions in 104 human skin biopsies - 2019
Serup et al. did “chemical analysis of 104 skin biopsies for chronic allergic reactions in red tattoos to identify culprit pigment(s) and metals.”
“P.R. 22, P.R. 170, and P.R. 210 were identified as the prevailing pigments behind chronic allergic reactions in red tattoos. The epitope causing the reaction might be a pigment-degradation product. Metal contamination may derive from different sources, and its role in red tattoo allergy cannot be ascertained.”
Allergic skin reaction to red tattoo ink