Tattoo at your own risk. Tattoos can be safe or hazardous depending on your preparation for the tattoo. Talk to the tattoo artist. Ask them what carrier solution they use. Ask them the composition of their ink. Choose your colors by which colors are least toxic. Make sure the tattoo artist's shop has an active Health Department certificate

1. Tattoos - Your
Health Is at Risk
Md Shabbir Raza

2. Tattoos - Your Health Is at Risk
The detrimental side effects of tattoos are known, but are often being ignored.
Many justassume that tattooing is safe because of its popularity. Otherssimply fail
to do their research before being injected with dies, plastics and paints. Many feel
that since tattoo parlorsare regulated, then the ink should be to, butthat's just not
true. The potential of infection with life changing infections is also present. The
biggest health risk is due to heavy metal poisoning due to tattoo ink. There are
thingseveryoneshouldknowbeforetheyaretattooed.I willendeavorto informyou
of the major risks.
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Risks
The risks associated with tattooing can be described as skin related diseases, end
organ disease (liver, kidney, brain) and heavy metalpoisoning. There are waysto
avoid these effects of tattooing and I will share those with you. But first, let's look
at some statistics.
According to Statistic Brain (2016),
• Americansspend a whopping 1.655Billion dollarson tattoos annually.
• Americansthathave at least one tattoo totals 45 Million people.
• The percentage of people who regretgetting a tattoo is 17%.
• The percentage of Americansgetting a tattoo removed is 11%.

3. Why are People Getting Tattoos?
These statistics arestaggeringnumbersto me. Itis surprisingthatthis manypeople
want to risk their health for skin art. People are motivated to get tattoos for a
variety of reasonsranging fromwearing arton their skin, rememberinga loved one
or to look sexy or dangerous. The motivation is unimportantfor today'stopic, but I
just wanted to give you a little background.
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The Dangersof Tattoo Ink Carriers
Whatarethe dangersoftattooink carriers?Carriersareusedto keepthe ink, plastic
or paint evenly distributed during application and inhibitsthe growth of pathogens
(bacteria/viruses). Please understand that these ingredients are not regulated for
use in tattooing by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) in most states.
• EthylAlcohol- rubbing alcoholisfor use externally and should notbe injected into
the skin. It can cause skin drying, irritation and can negatively affect nerves.
• Glycerin - it is the sugar alcohol glycerol and can cause increased urination and
diarrhea.
• Listerine - is an alcohol based concoction of menthol, methyl salicylate, thymol
(from thyme oil), and eucalyptol (liquid derived from eucalyptus oil). It can cause
skin irritation and localized allergic reactions.
• Propylene Glycol - is the primary ingredientin antifreeze which can be damaging
to your liver and kidneys.
The Dangersof Tattoo Ink

4. That was just the carriers. What is in each color of ink? Many of these inks have
ingredientsthat youshouldn'teven applyto the skin, much less injectinto the blood
rick lower layer of skin. The epidermis is the outer layer of skin that is made up of
dead skin cells and acts as a whole body bandage. Itprotectsus from bacteria and
viruses. The dermis is the living skin underneath the epidermis. Thingsinjected into
the dermis can be carried away by the bloodstream to all parts of the body. That's
why we get infections when we have a cut or scrape of our skin. The protective
epidermis is damaged.
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Whatis in the ink? Most inks contain acrylic resin (plastic molecules), but they also
contain other ingredients. They are listed below by color as per Helmenstine (2017)
and my own research.
• Black ink - Iron oxide (rust), charcoal or carbon - this is probably the least
dangerous ink. The amount of Iron oxide should be inadequate to cause iron
toxicity. Ask the tattoo artist to use purified water as a carrier.
• Blue Ink - Copper, carbonite (azurite), sodium aluminum silicate (lapus lazuli),
calcium copper silicate (Egyptian blue), cobalt aluminum oxides and chromium
oxides. Coppercanleador contributetoheavy metalpoisoning.Aluminumhasbeen
proven to attribute to Alzheimer's disease and gastrointestinal disorders.
• Brown ink - Iron oxide and iron ochre clay - this is probably as safe as black ink
and for the same reasons.
• Green ink - Chromium oxide and Malachite, lead chromate and the synthetic
compound Cu phthalocyanine are used and only the first two are considered
moderately safe. Lead chromate is derived from lead which is toxic even in low
doses. Cu phthalocyanineisan unregulatedcompoundofcopperandcancauseskin
irritation and respiratory irritation.

5. • Orangeink - Disazodiarylideand/ordisazopyrazolone,andcadmiumsulfatemake
orangeink.The first two are consideredsafe,butthe cadmiumsulfate is considered
toxic and possibly cancer causing.
• Purple - Manganese violet, quinacridone and dioxazine and the first of these is
considered safe. Quinacridone is an FDA approved food coloring, but has caused
localized skin reactions.
• Red - Cinnabar,cadmiumred,ironoxideand naphthol-ASpigmentarethe various
componentsof red ink. It is considered by most to be the most toxic color of tattoo
ink. Cinnabar is derived from mercury sulfate and is devastating to the nervous
system. Cadmium red is a known cancer causing agent. Naphthol-AS pigment is
used in red paints.
• Yellow - Cadmium sulfate, Ochre, curcuma yellow, chrome yellow and some are
safe and others are not. Cadmium sulfate is derived from lead and is toxic. Yellow
derived from the spice turmeric or curcuma yellow is considered safe. The problem
with yellow is the volume that must be used to provide a vibrant yellow color, so
local irritation of the skin often occurs.
• White - Titanium dioxide, lead white, barium sulfate and zinc oxide (the stuff you
smear on your nose at the beach). Titanium dioxide has caused cancer in lab
animals. Lead white is considered a cancer causing agent in humans. Barium is
derived from the metal barium and is used in barium swallows for gastrointestinal
tests, but when injected can cause skin irritation.
• Glow in the dark ink - made up of compoundsthat are toxic and in some cases
radioactive. This again is unregulated in most states.
Someof these compoundscanbeconsidered safe, buttesting still needsto be done.
Some of these compounds are toxic and can cause heavy metal poisoning as the
copper, lead, cadmium, chromium, arsenic and aluminum leach into your blood
stream. Aluminum inks can also hasten the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
Some of these inks cause cancer and have known mutagenic properties (cause
mutationsandbirth defects) per Genser(2007).TheFDA shouldbe regulatingthese

6. inks, but in most states they are not. Most states have started regulating tattoo
parlors though and at least that's a start.
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Regulation of tattoo parlorshasgreatly decreased the rate of seriousinfection. Use
of disposable needleshasmade the greatimpact. In the past, in unregulated tattoo
parlors, the risk for getting hepatitis B & C, HIV, tetanus, herpes, staph and syphilis
were a realthreat. Regulation and disposable one-use needleshave eliminated this
risk (as long as the regulations are followed).
One other majorconcernwith tattoo artisthe factthat lifesaving MRI scanscannot
be done in certain instances. This is because the metals in the ink cause intense
burning pain for the patient. This has prompted many radiology departments to
refuseto performMRIscansonpatientswith tattoos, per Grenser(2007).Thiscould
cause resulting misdiagnosis or the inability to diagnose.
There aresafe tattoo inks outtherethat arewilling to divulge their tattoo formulas.
There are many more that are dangeroustattoo inks that are unregulated. Many
manufacturersrefuse to divulge the formula assecret proprietaryinformation. The
carriersused to evenly distribute ink can also potentially be unsafe. Both the inksor
carriers are not regulated by the FDA and regulation of tattoo art is the
responsibility of each individual state.
Conclusion
Tattoo at your own risk. Tattoos can be safe or hazardous depending on your
preparation for the tattoo. Talk to the tattoo artist. Ask them whatcarrier solution
they use. Ask them the composition of their ink. Choose your colorsby which colors
are least toxic. Make sure the tattoo artist's shop hasan active Health Department

7. certificate. Ask them for their Health Departmentsanitation score. If you feel you
must get a tattoo, please do your research and make an informed decision. I
personally recommend thatyou don'tgeta tattoo. There are justtoo many risksfor
minor irritations and lingering side effects like cancer, scaring, granulomas,
infection, toxicity and infections, per Mishra (2013). I don'tthink it's worth the risk,
but it's your body. Just please study-up and make an informed decision.