Reactions in Tattoos

Tattooing is an age-old and usually harmless practice. All tattoos are followed at once by edema, inflammation, exudation and crust formation. This original inflammation, caused by deposition of whatever foreign substance is used to make the tattoo, subsides within three weeks. Late or persistent reactions must be relatively rare, considering the number of patients seen in the clinics who have been tattooed. The older literature on tattooing is replete with examples of disease injected into the patient by the tattooer. Abramson1cited cases of leprosy, tuberculosis, syphilis and tetanus contracted from this source, and Wilde2noted erysipelas and chancroid in his report. In 1862 Bercheron, according to Shie,3reported 43 cases, in 8 of which death occurred as a direct consequence of tattooing, in 8 others amputation was necessary, in 7 gangrene was present, in 25 severe infection and inflammation appeared and in 1 there was arteriovenous