Tattoo health hazards through tattoos

First tattoo safety conference: Tattoos are not without danger

08/06/2013

Anyone who reports on the health risks of tattoos risks bitter emails and letters from tattoo artists and tattoo fans. Because the colorful or monochrome images on the skin have long been socialized. Especially in summer you can see almost every body the colored skin jewelry. An international symposium discusses the health risks in Berlin from today. Invited are not only doctors, but also representatives of the tattoo scene.

Risk due to pathogens
According to current legislation, tattooing and piercing are basically a physical injury, as a physical procedure is performed that is unnecessary in the medical sense. During the "stinging" wounds are added, from which run off blood, wound secretions and serums, which are barely recognizable to the naked eye. "Already the smallest drops of wound can contain enormous quantities of dangerous pathogens in patients", as for example the Bayrische Landeamt für Gesundheit reports. For example, such pathogens could lead to jaundice or AIDS. If a tattoo artist has become infected, he can also pass on the infection to other customers. For this reason, tattoo enthusiasts should always make sure that the tattooist wears disposable gloves at work.

Allergic reaction due to colors used
Professor Andreas Luch is the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment responsible for the safety of so-called consumption-related products. In his experience, tattooing can lead to allergic reactions. "Bleeding can occur and allergic reactions to the pigments found in the remedies often occur. Typical complications include itchy rash, itching, blistering inflammation, "reports the expert. However, the symptoms would disappear after a certain time.

That health complications are by no means only extreme isolated cases, clarified some studies. For example, Luch reports that about six to eight percent of tattooed people experience prolonged damage to their health. One year ago, for example, a man from Cologne suffered a severe allergic reaction. Because no therapy came, the clinicians did not know what to do and removed the entire tattooed skin. The removed skin was then enriched by skin from other parts of the body.

Unknown to this day is, what does the ink under the skin layers in the body. "Nobody can rule out the possibility that tattooing agents will cause damage to health after ten or fifteen years - from organ damage to tumor-like changes," explains Luch. For example, random samples showed that the colors also contained toxic heavy metals. Among the heavy metals were also substances that turned out to be highly carcinogenic in experiments.

More and more people are taking on a tattoo. In cities, a new shop opens almost every corner. But in terms of supervision and regulation, the authorities in Europe are still at the beginning. "There is a tattoo-agent regulation in Germany," replies Weber. However, the studios can not be monitored regularly and comprehensively by the health authorities. A specially appointed EU Commission has also published recommendations for colorants. "These are not obligatory for the EU member states", warns Luch.

A trade license is enough to open a studio
The Association of German Organized Tattooists e.V. (DOT) regrets that "a trade license is enough to open a tattoo parlor and it takes a relatively long time to carry out checks," says spokesman Maik Frey. The production of tattoo inks is an international business. "In the past there were only three to five manufacturers, today there are five hundred," says the association spokesman. Colors from Germany are more likely to be harmless to health because the authorities are watching over them. However, no one knows "what funds are distributed in what quantities over the Internet. Dyes from China, for example, are being offered online at a low price, "says Frey.

According to the risk assessor Luch, there can not be 100% certainty. "Based on our current data, we can not give a reasonable assessment of the risks," concludes Lunch. There are too many questions and few answers that are scientifically founded. Anyone who wants to sting a tattoo only for cosmetic reasons and expects complete security, "should just let it," says Mark Benecke of the initiative "Pro Tattoo". (Sb)

Almost ten percent of Germans wear a tattoo
Anyone wearing a tattoo today does not necessarily have to belong to a subculture, have gone to sea or been imprisoned in prison. Not infrequently hides behind a pinstripe suit and a tattoo. Often, contemporaries spend enormous sums to beautify their bodies. "10 or 20 thousand euros are no longer a rarity today," says Klaus Weber, a tattoo artist from Hanover. According to the lobby association "Pro Tattoo", nine to ten percent of adults in Germany now wear a perpetual image on their skin.

Conference on the safety of tattoos
The more people can be tattooed and hardly leave out any part of the body, the more the urgent question of the consequences for health arises. These and other questions should therefore be discussed at the international congress of the "First International Conference on Tattoo Safety" on 6 and 7 July in Berlin. Invited are researchers, physicians and experts from Europe, New Zealand, Australia and the USA. For the first time, an overview of how often health complications occur.

The focus is not just on the act of tattooing, but above all on the security of the means and colors used. "How much does the ink used stress the body? Are there long-term risks to health? "The Tattoo Symposium is organized by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (RKI) in cooperation with the Freie Universität Berlin, TU Berlin.

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