Nowadays, tattoos are one of the main means of self-expression. Anyone can find a tattoo sketch on the Internet or draw it themselves, and then make an appointment with a tattoo artist – for a few thousand rubles you can apply a real work of art to the skin. Sometimes it seems that almost every second city resident has tattoos. Some men and women want to get a tattoo, but take a long time to decide on it. This is primarily due to the fact that during tattooing a person experiences pain, and in some areas of the body the skin sensitivity is higher than in others. Secondly, many people cannot choose a sketch, fearing that the drawing will quickly get boring. But there is another reason why you need to think long and hard before getting a tattoo. Recently, scientists found that in the long term, tattoos can cause the development of a fatal disease.
Scientists have found another potential danger of tattoos. Source: stock.adobe.com
Why tattoos last a lifetime
People learned to make tattoos about 60 thousand years ago, and since then the essence has not changed much. To apply designs to skin, people take a sharp object, dip it in ink, and pierce the skin. In ancient times, needles and paints made from natural pigments were used for this purpose. Today there are professional tattoo machines and special paints of different colors.
To understand why tattoos remain forever, you need to remember that human skin consists of several layers. The topmost one is called the epidermis, and it is constantly renewed. Below is a deeper layer, the dermis – it is more stable, it is renewed more slowly over the course of many years.
After getting a tattoo, you need to take care of it for about a week. Source: businessinsider.com
When a person gets a tattoo, the needle of the tattoo machine passes through the epidermis and delivers ink directly into the dermis. The body perceives paint as a foreign object, so the immune system tries to “eat” it. However, the coloring particles are located very deep, so the body cannot completely remove the ink. The ink remains in the dermis of the skin for almost a lifetime – over time there is less of it, the design becomes duller, but still remains in place.
More detailed article on this topic:Why tattoos stay for life?
The health hazards of tattoos
When the body fights ink, ink particles end up in a person’s lymph nodes. This is the name for the parts of the immune system that filter lymph, a clear liquid that carries proteins, waste and immune cells.
Recently, scientists from Sweden decided to investigate whether having tattoos could increase the risk of developing malignant lymphoma, a rare form of cancer that affects white blood cells (lymphocytes). The results of the scientific work were published in the scientific journal EClinicalMedicine.
Judging by statistics, tattoos can lead to the development of a fatal disease. Source: tatuantes.com
To find the answer to their question, scientists conducted a survey among 5,591 Swedish residents. They were primarily interested in people aged 20 to 60 who were diagnosed with lymphoma between 2007 and 2017. People from the control group also took part in the survey. The questionnaire asked them to answer a series of questions, including one about tattoos. Respondents had to indicate whether they had tattoos, what size and color they were, and when they were made.
The results of the study showed that even a small tattoo can be dangerous. Source: tattoodo.com
The survey results showed that people with tattoos had a 21% higher risk of developing lymphoma than people in the control group. Tattoo size and color did not appear to have any effect on the likelihood of developing the disease. But the time of appearance of the tattoo on the skin had an effect – the terrible diagnosis was discovered in people within two years after the drawing was applied, or more than ten years later.
Most likely, the dire consequences are caused by the dyes in tattoos. But no one risks talking about this with great confidence – there is no evidence of this, only statistics hint at the presence of consequences. If tattoos are harmful, this may be influenced by other factors such as the individual characteristics of the human body, the experience of the artist, and so on.
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So, before getting a tattoo, you should think carefully about everything. Many people are afraid that body art will look terrible, but this is far from the worst thing that can happen. With all this, no matter what scientists say, the fashion for tattoos is unlikely to disappear – maybe the trend will go even further, and people of the future will start getting tattoos on their own, without the help of tattoo artists.