A new Danish study has suggested that tattoos appear to increase a person’s risk of skin cancer between 33 per cent and 62 per cent.
Findings of the study are published in the journal ‘BMC Health’. People put a lot of thought into getting a tat – too — the design they desire, the location they prefer and the message their body art will send to others.
Most don’t think about the impact their tattoo might have on their long-term health, but perhaps they should, a new study suggests.
Results also indicate there’s increased cancer risk from larger tattoos. Tattoos larger than the palm of a hand more than double a person’s risk of skin cancer and nearly triple their risk of lymphoma, or cancer of the lymph nodes, researchers found.
Lymphoma is a type of blood cancer that affects the immune system. When tattoo ink is injected into the skin, ink particles can migrate to and accumulate inside the lymph nodes, researchers said.
Lymph nodes are small glands forming clusters in different body areas, such as the neck and underarms.
“We can see that ink particles accumulate in the lymph nodes, and we suspect that the body perceives them as foreign substances,” said researcher Henrik Frederiksen, a clinical professor at the University of Southern Denmark.”
