The ink used for tattoos could potentially be toxic and increase the risk of cancer, these are the first findings of another study. It is expected that the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the official EU body that controls the production and circulation of all chemicals in European countries, will soon publish a list of chemicals (including potentially hazardous ones) that are used in tattoo pigments. It is expected that the substances on the list will be banned in the territory of the EU countries.
An ECHA spokesman said “The results of many studies raise public health concerns arising from the composition of .
The most serious concerns are related to an allergic reaction to the components of the paint, as well as its possible carcinogenic and mutagenic properties.
(translation of the editorial site)
Researchers at the New York University Langone Medical Center concluded that approximately 6% of teenagers who got a tattoo subsequently experienced similar symptoms for 4 months and, in some cases, more than a year.
Another group of researchers representing the University of Bradford believe that paint nanoparticles can enter the circulatory system, which delivers them to vital organs such as the kidneys and spleen, which subsequently harms the body.
Despite the fact that the major international publications wrote about this news, it is unlikely that such studies will cause a storm at the current stage. If you look, in fact, nothing fundamentally new was said. Individual intolerance to tattoo pigment has been known for a long time. Rather, the figures given in the reports are exclusive here - every twentieth or every fifteenth.
As far as we can tell, the situation, at least in Russia, is something like this. If you ask any more or less well-known tattoo artist, he will count on the fingers of one hand the cases when clients had skin problems after the sessions. In most cases, itching, itching and inflammation are the result of improper tattoo care.
P.S. By the way, personally, I really have one friend who really has a slight itching in the tattoo area for a year after healing, and according to her tattoo master, this is really an individual reaction to red paint.
As for the quality and composition of the pigment, there really are black spots here. It is possible that those who order paints from China are exposing customers to a greater risk of allergies and other unpleasant consequences. European consumables undergoing certification obviously inspire more confidence.
In any case, we will follow the development of history and report on the news. Want to be the first to know? Subscribe to our mailing list!
Elena Flying Tattoos
Allergic reaction to red tattoo pigments. The topic is interesting, extensive and very useful. How did this topic come about? Recently there have been discussions of pigments on Facebook, but I wanted to bring up a narrow but generally very interesting topic.
In the last 4 years, people from all over the country have been contacting me about an allergic reaction to pigments. More often, there are care defects, but there are severe cases of allergies, and literally today I came across an interesting article, a medical article from a scientific journal, English-language, fresh, March 2016. This is a review of the last 5 - 7 years about allergic reactions to tattoo pigments.
Scientists analyzed and analyzed all cases, published clinical observations of allergic reactions to tattoos. And we formulated general theses, which I would like to present today. Each specific tattoo and permanent makeup artist rarely encounters this phenomenon in his life, but if you look at the country and the world as a whole, then this is a global problem that many do not know how to deal with.
I would like to tell you why it is to red pigments that an allergy develops, because this is the most common color, the most common pigment to which an allergic reaction develops.
There are almost never allergic reactions to black, these are isolated cases described in clinical practice. I did not come up with this, these are data from an article that has been analyzed over the past 10 years in the medical literature, in medical journals.
The yellow pigment rarely gives a true allergic reaction, it causes a maximum of a photoallergic reaction, photodermatitis, and that's it. Green and blue also rarely cause an allergic reaction.
My name is Vitaly Mikryukov, I am a candidate of medical sciences. I am engaged in laser removal and I communicate very closely with the tattoo industry and permanent. And I come across a lot of different cases, so I decided to make such a review.
The red pigment often contains mercury, mercury salts or various mercury minerals, such as cinnabar. In ancient times, cinnabar was called "dragon's blood" and mercury is not the mercury that we have in a thermometer, not liquid mercury, it is a mineral. Mercury salt is crystalline in nature. In particular, cinnabar contains up to 85% mercury atoms. It is a beautiful pink-red mineral that is crushed and used, among other things, to obtain tattoo pigments. And other mercury salts have a crystal lattice, so you don't think that pure mercury is added. Mercury, as an element, not as a substance contained in mercury salts, it is the mercury atom itself that is contained there. 
Green color - chromium, these are also salts of chromium metal.
Violet color - manganese, most often some of its compounds. But this is not pure chromium and manganese, but their salts.
Blue color - cobalt, i.e. also cobalt salts.
Yellow color - cadmium.
Ocher (red, red) - iron oxide.
These are the minerals that are part of the mineral pigments that are used in tattooing, tattooing.
It is clear that no one will write to you on a jar of tattoo pigment that it contains mercury salts. But in general they are used to obtain color.
There are also so-called organic pigments. And in this case, we are interested in the red pigment. Red is the most allergenic, even among organic pigments. Organic pigments contain extracts of organic substances, such as sandalwood - this is the main component.
What happens when we develop an allergic reaction?
And another option may be, the pigment in the tissues - implantation, just engraftment, without reaction. This happens in 80-95% of all cases, i.e. most often. And it could be an allergic reaction. How does it manifest itself? There are several options. It manifests itself in four main points.
Let me show you the pictures.
And that's how everything was resolved. This is a case that we have tracked for 3-4 years. As a result, a scar formed in place of the red color. This is scar tissue. In general, the allergy is over, the itching has stopped. Not only does it not look very good, but also itching and irritating effects in this area.
I'll show you more options.
Pay attention to these areas. And here's what happened to them. The brown color is swollen. I would recommend removing it after the first healing has taken place and the first signs have appeared, because they will be immediately.
It's not an infection. Infection is a defect in care. Here the question is the composition of the paint, its components. No filtration and process disruption. Some people may have allergic reactions to the components of the paint. Even if a person is allergic, there is no relationship with tattoo pigments. Tattoo pigments are no different, they also use different components, either organic or non-organic. These are universal natural components that give the colors we need.
When does an allergy appear? It can manifest itself both during the healing process of a tattoo, immediately after application and during the healing process. Many tattoo artists can confirm that red pigment is less likely to take root in the skin, even if there is no allergy.
It is almost impossible to warn, the test will not help much. An allergy to red pigment can take years to show up. I went to sunbathe and provoked an allergy to red pigment.
Twice in my practice, I experienced an allergy debut during laser removal, the patients had normal tattoos with red pigments, without any manifestations of allergies. And after exposure to the laser, we got an allergic reaction in these patients. But it is almost impossible to guess and predict.
A couple of days ago, a patient came to me with a ready-made allergy to red pigment, now we are working with him and removing red pigment from the skin with a neodymium laser.
What are the options for correcting an allergic reaction?
But this is all temporary relief of manifestations, i.e. this will quickly drown out the local reaction at the time of its appearance and activity.
As long as the pigment is in the skin and an allergy to it has already formed, then as soon as you stop using these histamine preparations, the reaction will intensify further.
Kenalog and diprospan are injected into the focus. But there is a danger in terms of skin dystrophy. These are very powerful drugs, they extinguish inflammation, but in this place there may be a hole in the skin.
All this should be prescribed only by a doctor.
Neodymium lasers - removal. Removal of red pigment with a wavelength of 532 nm. The removal of the ladybug tattoo that I showed you was achieved thanks to these methods, diprospan and laser removal. As a result, a scar remained, maybe some kind of skin atrophy, but in general, the development of an allergic reaction stopped.
And the last method, CO 2 laser, or surgical section, or electrocoagulation. These are any methods that mechanically destroy the skin and remove it along with the pigment. There will definitely be a scar, but if this continues for years and is not corrected in any way, this may be the way out.
How many sessions? Depends on the amount of pigments. By the way, the higher the concentration of red pigment in the skin, the denser it is clogged, the higher the likelihood of an allergic reaction.
In the case of a ladybug, three times with a laser and an injection of diprospan, in the end she got rid of the allergic reaction.
A message that under the influence of a laser, an increase in an allergic reaction is possible, up to anaphylactic shock. In the article I told you about, scientists wrote that not a single case of anaphylactic shock was described anywhere after laser removal and in the process of tattooing. The probability is extremely low.
The bottom line is that you don’t need to be afraid, but you need to know about the likelihood of developing an allergy to tattoo pigments.
Red dot tattoos are a recognizable style of the Turkish artist who goes by his Instagram handle mentat_gamze, who adds a red dot to each work and plays with it in his drawings.
Here is the story the artist tells about himself: “I get asked about the red dot quite often. Actually it has a special meaning for me. My story as a designer started when I studied German Philology at Hacettepe University. Then I was already working as a graphic designer. I expected to be happy doing this, but after my graduation, I realized that my life was not going in the direction I would like. I have tried many jobs. I've worked as a window salesman, purchasing manager, tradesman and God knows what else. The more I tried, the more miserable I became. Every day I became more and more convinced that it was impossible for me to be happy being in a corporate culture. I was financially undervalued and unhappy for many years, until it even hurt me to think that I would have to wake up miserable every morning for the rest of my life. I was tired and finally decided to quit my job.
At the same time, I started drawing to feel good, and after a while I thought that I should turn this drawing into tattoos. They look good on the skin! I tried it at home and thought that this is exactly the kind of work that I want to do all my life.
The study period was painful for me because I didn't know any tattoo artist. Because I couldn't get any help or advice, this period took longer than expected, and I went through a lot of trial and error.
But in the end, I was infinitely happy to be out of this ruinous job, and I was so happy to do what I love. I wanted to somehow reflect this in my work. And I came up with a twist. I like black tattoos and didn't want to involve other colors, so a bright red dot was the best choice to contrast with the tattoo. It also signifies a conflict with the burdensome times of my past and was meant to symbolize hope and courage. My clients love the idea of a red dot and have begun to give meaning to their own dots. So, it is health for one, happiness for another, a lost relative for a third, a planet or just a sinking sun. It's been two years since my first tattoo. During this time I have tattooed hundreds of people from all over the world. I listened to their stories. I became a part of their lives and I helped them carry their stories on their bodies with secret symbols.
Now I do what I like. So I hope this post helps people who need to reset their lives but somehow think it's too late to pursue their dreams."
Tattoos have been made for hundreds of years, and until recently, the method of applying a tattoo has remained unchanged. But of course, the development of technology and progress has also affected the tattoo industry. Inks, machines, and healing techniques have improved greatly over the past few decades, making it possible to do more intricate and sophisticated work that is no longer as time-sensitive.
As with any field that is experiencing explosive growth (the tattoo industry is now worth several billion dollars, there are more than 200,000 tattoo studios in the US alone, unfortunately there are no data for Russia), there are those who are at the forefront, experimenting, and are in searches. In the world of tattoos, clients also stimulate the search for new forms. Because more and more people want to make their own unique work that is different from the rest.
Every day I post incredible tattoos and some of them are so beautiful that they make me wish I had five or six more arms.
Now that it's getting harder to stand out with your tattoo, and the tattoo itself is no more radical than a pierced ear, how do you stand out in a crowd? Of course, there is a way out - to make yourself an idiotic tattoo that everyone will point the finger at, and you will be considered at best a big "original", but it seems to me more correct to think about something unique.
Pros: Artistic and colorful work.
Minuses: Lots of color, little contour, no one knows how the tattoo will feel in 10-20 years.
Pros: Attract the eye
Minuses: What will happen to your tattoo if you tan in the sun?
Pros: Damn fun to watch
Minuses: You will have to spend a lot of time arguing with bores. I warned you.
Pros: By far the best of the new styles. Very bright and interesting work.
Minuses: You are on the front line, among the tattoo geeks. Get ready for momentary internet glory and torrents of dung from the proponents of the traditional tattoo. Yes, and you can be confused with another owner of a trash polka tattoo.
