What’s lurking in tattoo ink?
If you’re like me then you probably find tattoos pretty awesome, but you might be concerned about the health implications of inking your precious body. Are there serious concerns lurking in those mysterious liquids that imbue skin with a myriad of colors that give life that dumb idea or incredible piece of artwork that adorn many bodies?
Well there’s bad and good news. Let’s start with the bad. As tattooing has become more prevalent and popular, there’s been an increase in adverse effects caused using different tattoo inks. Inks contain a mixture of particles and compositionally are varied, often containing different amounts and types of metals and compounds that may be toxic.
Most poor reactions that people may encounter are hygiene related and are caused by the introduction of bacteria. However, there is evidence that the compounds in the ink are associated with cytotoxicity (essentially being toxic to a cell). Researchers hypothesize that it is due to azo pigments that create stress on a cellular level. And it appears, that certain colors of inks are potentially more toxic than others. A group of researchers found that blue, green, and red inks were more toxic than black. More specifically, the worst of the three were green and red which demonstrated increased toxicity and contained those dreaded azo compounds.
Black ink was, in terms of toxicity the lowest. Which makes sense, black inks are predominantly carbon based and do not contain metal or azo compounds which are used in colored inks. So the good news is perhaps embrace the black and grey tattoo style if you’re considering getting inked.
Highlights from “Tattoo inks: Characterization and in vivo and in vitro toxicological evaluation”:
Tattoo inks contain nanoparticles.
Blue and green inks contain high levels of metals.
The metal fraction of tattoo inks is not proportional to the toxicity.
The black ink was found to be the safest toxicologically.
The higher toxicity of red and green inks may be related to pigments containing azo compounds.
Source: (Arl, et al., 2019)
If it were me, I’d appreciate colored tattoos on other people and commit to the black and grey style. I mean look at some of these amazingly talented artists. Besides, black is timeless and is good for any occasion. Just check out some of this incredible art on Instagram. 😉
Source: Instagram, @Lilbtattoo
Source: Instagram, @juncha
Source: Instagram, @Kiljun
