Most of the time an old person has had a tattoo for many years it looks like they have a nasty bruise, that discoloration is due to the ink migrating under their skin. Many teens today may think that the worst case scenario is that their sweet ink will someday look like a blob, but tattoos can cause serious issues, other than the initial pain of getting one. Complications from tattoos include ink allergies, skin infections, MRI complications and Lymph node infections.

A 30 year old woman from Australia recently found that out the hard way. Fifteen years after her tattoo had been completed she noticed hard painful lumps in her armpits. Fearing that it was cancer she went to the doctor to have it examined. While at first her doctors believed it to be a case of lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph nodes, they were later surprised to find that it was in-fact just swollen lymph nodes caused by black tattoo pigment that her immune system had just gotten around to dealing with. Not only were the lymph nodes swollen, they had been dyed black. The swelling of the lymph nodes was caused by nanoparticles of toxins in tattoo ink. The lymph nodes attempt to deal with the tattoo particles but the pigment is too large to be digested, so it simply sticks around in the body. This has been proven in recent years by the tinting of lymph nodes after a tattoo. The chemicals used in these tattoos may be startling to some.

Colored inks, the most dangerous of these being green and blue, can contain materials such as nickel, chromium, manganese or cobalt. White ink, often used to blend colors, typically uses titanium dioxide, which is also used in paint for its bright white color. The nanoparticles from these inks can cause a variety of health problems. Due to a lawsuit, two of the largest tattoo ink producers now must include warnings that the inks contain lead and arsenic among other things, and those and other ingredients may cause cancer and birth defects. Sometimes the tattoo ink manufacturers accidentally includes things like Mycobacterium chelonae, microbacteria organisms, and molds like Penicillium and Cryptococcus albidus. Symptoms of the tattoo inks containing these molds and bacteria can range from swelling to blood poisoning and permanent scarring. As an added bonus, the metallic flakes in the tattoo ink can cause interference with MRI machines.

While rare, people with tattoos are sometimes burned during MRI scans. The strong electromagnet and the metal in some tattoos creates an electric current that can result in minor irritation, burns and poor MRI imaging. One of these incidents occurred to a woman with permanent makeup, a tattoo designed to resemble makeup, and ended with her receiving first degree burns to the eyelids. While this certainly is a hazard, it is still recommended to have scans done.

Although it may seem like harmless fun at the time, tattoos can get their owners into a heap of trouble. So stay safe and be knowledgeable about what you are putting in and on your body.