Tattoo Health Benefits

Katiejoy Anderson
Semester Essay
Honors Bio 10
1/17/16

Tattoos Affect Your Health

As of February 2014, about 40% of people worldwide have some kind of tattoo located on their body. The problem with this is people aren’t always aware of the complications that getting a tattoo can bring. There are many kinds of physical risks such as the chance of infection, an allergic reaction, dermatology issues, etc. Tattoos are a form of self-expression, but they can also be a major health risk. Tattoo removal is time consuming and expensive which is why people should be more aware of these issues.

One of the most common risks of receiving a tattoo would be the high risk of infection. When you go to get a tattoo, you should always check to see

if the tools used have been disinfected in order to minimize the chance of infection. Dirty needles may pass infections such as HIV, or hepatitis. There is also a chance that the ink being used has been contaminated by bacteria, which can cause a skin infection. In 2012, there was an outbreak of skin infections spread in New York for this exact reason. The grey ink used was contaminated with a mycobacterial, this bacteria can cause leprosy or tuberculosis.

Many people aren’t sure when they get a tattoo, but they could be allergic to the ink or the tools being used at the time. Allergic reactions could include rashes, or various skin infections. It is also a possibility to develop an allergy after your third or fourth tattoo. Typically the reaction would start as a redness, and then progress to swelling followed by open sores. Steroid injections have been known to help with allergic reactions, but they are harder to treat. In extreme cases, the tattoo would have to be removed which wouldn’t exactly be convenient.

Tattoos have been known to surprisingly cover up other skin infections, such as skin cancer.

Most of the time tattoos would be covering up things such as cancerous moles, or skin changes that could indicate cancer. Of course this is a big issue because treating cancer in its early stages is extremely important. Certain ink colors such as yellow cannot be exposed to the sun for long periods of time because it could cause a skin infection. Sun exposure is a big deal for people with tattoos who work outside in the sun all day, depending on how long they are outside. Specifically, yellow ink has been known to cause itching and redness of the skin, similar to the symptoms of an allergic

reaction.

Different ink colors such as black or red contain significant colors of iron, which is problematic if someone were to need an MRI scan. The magnetic force from the MRI would attract the iron in the ink, which would cause a burning sensation. This would be immensely painful for the patient, because sometimes the burns can be extreme depending on the type of tattoo. Black and red aren’t the only colors that contain iron, so this would be something to look into if you were considering getting a tattoo.

If you were to get a tattoo removed then you would want to look at the kinds of possible side effects.

Side effects with laser tattoo removal are minimal, but definitely something to consider. The site for removal would be at risk for infection, or scarring. There may also be a lack of pigment removal, meaning some color may remain on your skin. Another possibility would be hypopigmentation, which is the opposite of what I just stated. Hypopigmentation is when the skin where the tattoo was may be paler than the surrounding skin. There is also hyperpigmentation, where the treated skin is darker than the surrounding skin. Cosmetic tattoos such as eyeliner may turn out darken throughout the laser removal process. You could always insist on further treatment, which would usually result in

fading.

As soon as you get a tattoo, your white blood cells are constantly fighting to remove the pigments that were injected into your epidermis. This is why as time passes, tattoos tend to fade and lose their color. Laser removal will take away the metals contained in the colors since the white blood cells are much smaller than the ink particles. With new technology, side effects are now much smaller in possibility. Surprisingly, the laser helps the white blood cells carry the ink particles to the liver where they can be disposed. Certain color pigments are known to break down into toxic chemicals in the body on exposure to light during removal. This can actually lead to the poisonous substances going into your liver or kidneys, which wouldn’t be a good thing.

In our modern world today, tattoos are very common because people consider them as art or a kind of self expression. It is good to be able to express yourself in a way that you wish, but tattoos in my opinion wouldn’t be the best way to go. I think that there are too many risks for infection, because you can never be too sure. You can always ask if the tools used have been disinfected, but you can’t honestly trust someone you don’t know. I wouldn’t want to risk the chance of getting HIV since it is currently incurable. Also, if you had sensitive skin you would be more prone to things such as allergic reactions or infections. I think that people should be more aware of the complications that come with getting a tattoo, preferably before getting one.