Tattoos are meant to be party fun and expressive… Cancer and infections are such a buzz kill!
To each his own, but I have always been rather impartial to tattoos. Unlike a fine wine, I simply don’t think they age very well and they look especially out of place on a doting grandmother or father (unless they’re a member of a famous rock group and had a bank account to go along with it).
Anyway, onto more pressing matters such as how tattoos can kill you.
As a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, I am always aware I am a doctor first and a plastic surgeon second. It is for this reason I address subjects such as this to inform the public of potentially dangerous trends they embrace. More is written about how tattoos are associated with resistant bacterial infections and skin cancers, especially that the American FDA is applying its investigative microscope to the issue. More ominously, because of hepatitis C transmission, tattoos are associated with liver cancer and the possible necessity of liver transplantation. That is some virulent ink to say the least!
You might read this and think that you’re better off undergoing laser tattoo removal. Unfortunately, while the tattoo might be removed by the laser, blasting away that pigment might release it into the body a second time.
If you’re thinking about getting a tattoo maybe consider using a safer pigment such as InfiniteInk . This does not contain toxins and can be easily removed. It may cost more, but wouldn’t you want a pigment that was developed to color medicines, rather than paints?
To read more about this unsettling topic click here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2032696/Now-tattoos-cancer-U-S-regulator-probes-fears-inks-contain-carcinogenic-chemicals.html
http://dawn.com/2013/01/25/tattoos-linked-to-hepatitis-c-study/
R.D. Haworth M.D., F.A.C.S.
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