Tattoos Color pigments migrate as nanoparticles in the body

The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) warns that color pigments after tattooing can be deposited in lymph nodes in the long term.

Health hazard through tattoos. (Image: belyjmishka / fotolia.com)

It is already known that tattoos can occasionally cause unwanted health effects due to poor hygiene or the use of certain pigments. For the first time, scientists from the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) have demonstrated that nanoparticle-based color pigments can permanently accumulate in lymph nodes.

In tattoo inks, which may contain contaminants such as nickel, chromium, manganese or cobalt, titanium dioxide (TiO2), the second most commonly used ingredient in color, has also been studied. Titanium Dioxide serves as a white pigment to create different tints of the tattoo. In the investigations, the so-called X-ray fluorescence analysis was used to analyze at which points the pigments accumulate in the tissue.

So far, only by the optical staining of lymph nodes in tattoos was known that the pigments can accumulate there, as they often had the same color as the tattoo. What is new, however, is the investigation of the pigments in terms of their chemical composition and size. Scientists believe that nano-sized pigments behave and disperse differently in the body than micro-sized ones.

Overall, the researchers are reporting evidence of both the migration of nano-sized particles and the deposition of toxic substances in the body. As the study progresses, the research team will investigate additional samples of tattoo-defensive response patients to investigate the relationship between the chemical-structural properties of the pigments and the observed effects. The study can also be found here.