Tattoo inks are some of the finer things in life

Tattoo inks are some of the finer things in life


You might think that skull and crossbones tattoo on your arm or that red rose perched discreetly on your derriere are made with liquid ink. But it’s possible the ink is instead a pigment made up of fine crystalline solids. Researchers publishing in the British Journal of Dermatology found that most types of tattoo pigments contain tiny particles called nanoparticles, which could pose a health hazard. The particles are so small that tens of thousands or more of them could fit on the head of a pin.

Nanoparticles have many potential beneficial applications in medicine, science and technology because of their size and how they behave. They could, for example, be used to deliver drugs to specific parts of the body, or to stick to cancer cells so they show up better under standard imaging technology.

Or they could be used to make a cute little heart tattoo.

Millions of people around the world have tattoos. One quarter of Americans between 18 to 50 have them. But not all tattoo inks are created equal. Using lasers and other high-tech measurement methods the researchers found that different color inks had different-sized particles. Black pigments had the tiniest particles, white pigments had the largest and colored inks had sizes in between. It wasn’t just about size, but also amount. All the inks except for the white ones were bursting with nanoparticles; Black pigments were made up almost entirely of them.

But how might these particles affect health? Studies show that nanoparticles have the potential to generate unstable chemical species that can damage cells and tissues, but more studies are needed to see how those lab findings might translate to human health. Despite that, Mom might just have added one more thing to her list of reasons you shouldn’t get a tattoo.

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