Clinical Research on Laser-Assisted Tattoo Removal

Getting a tattoo triples a person’s risk of acquiring hepatitis C, a large multinational study has found.
The odds were even higher when the study’s authors ruled out people already participating in other behaviors that raise the risk of hepatitis C. For example, people who get tattoos but who are not drug users are almost [...]

In a recent issue of Dermatology, physicians from the Korea University College of Medicine report on what may be the first case of a pseudolymphoma induced by a semi-permanent tattoo. Pseudolymphoma is an inflammatory response that results in benign lymphoma-like cells.
The case involved a 49-year-old woman with a 1-year history of linear swelling on [...]

It’s probably a sign of these economic times, but tattoo-related advertising may be on the upswing, suggests a recent news report in the New York Times.
The article focused on people who have shaved their heads to make them available for a temporary tattoo advertisement. Last November, for example, some 30 people volunteered to be “cranial [...]

Temporary tattooing using henna dye, a dark green power made from the leaves of the henna (Lawsonia inermis) plant has become very popular in recent years, both among adults and children. A recent article in the Journal of Dermatology details the case of a 9-year-old boy who developed allergic contact dermatitis after receiving a henna [...]

A case study review, published in Dermatology, reports on 12 patients who came to the authors’ outpatient clinic with severe side effects after undergoing laser tattoo removal procedures performed elsewhere. All the patients had hypo- or hyper-pigmentations and scarring at the treatment site. Three had received their treatments from beauticians, the rest from physicians (dermatologists [...]

In a recent issue of Acta Dermato-Venereologica, French dermatologists report on a 47-year-old female patient’s unusual and severe “scleroderma-like” reaction to the red-only parts of a tattoo.
The authors of the case study point out that although other kinds of skin reactions to tattooing are common, dermal sclerosis (a hardening of the skin tissue) is rare.
The [...]

Researchers from the University of Maryland Department of Dermatology published a report in the Journal of Cutaneous Pathology about a case of a patient presenting a superficially invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), keratoacanthoma (KA) type, of the left forearm in a 1-month-old tattoo.
They took an initial biopsy and in the time following, he developed four [...]

A new French study published this month describes some potentially lethal allergic reactions patients have had following Henna tattoos received on vacation. Henna tattoos are the temporary tattoos common in India and other Eastern nations which many Westerners will receive while visiting on vacation. They are especially popular among children and young adults.
The inks used [...]

A new study by Mass General researchers Drs. Rox Anderson, Avram and Izikson have shown two patients who’ve had an immunologic reaction following laser tattoo removal. There have been reports of patients who are undergoing an allergic reaction to a tattoo ink who, upon receiving laser tattoo removal, have gone into full body anaphylactic shock. [...]

A fascinating case has been reported in the November 2007 Journal of Cutaneous Pathology. French dermatologists at the University of Montpellier have reported a case of Keratoacanthoma (KA), a common keratinizing squamous cell neoplasm of unknown origin characterized by rapid growth and spontaneous involution, apparently brought on as a complication of red tattoo dye.
A 41 [...]