Not really. If you want to choose a henna tattoo, you should ask about the ingredients. Those that contain para-phenylenediamine PPD as well as other toxic chemicals found in dyes can cause delayed allergic reactions and hypopigmentation, scarring, and dying skin skin necrosis. In addition, use of henna may cause you to be permanently unable to tolerate sulfa drugs, sunscreens that contain PABA, benzocaine, and hair dyes.
Read more about henna tattoos. Since companies are not required to reveal the ingredients in their tattoo inks and you are not protected against receiving a tattoo from unqualified individuals unless you do your homework, as noted in a previous Naturally Savvy article on tattoos , you need to take steps to ensure your safety if you want to have a tattoo. The safest advice of all regarding tattoo inks? If you have your heart set on getting one, do your homework and choose the safest tattoo inks available and licensed professionals.
Are Tattoos Safe? The Truth About Tattoo Inks. Your privacy is important to us. Leave a Comment. Winter Care for Dry and Dehydrated Skin. Vegan Lentil Soup with Kale and Carrots.
Understanding Organic Skincare Ingredients. Ink molecules like to stick to each other cohesion as well as to other substances adhesion. When the adhesion of ink molecules to the walls of the holes is stronger than the cohesion between the ink molecules, the ink travels down the holes. Once the ink reaches the dermis, the immune system gets alarmed. It deploys macrophages immune cells to help close the punctured holes. Since the tattoo ink is a foreign body, macrophages start gobbling them up and attempt to take them away to destroy them but get stuck in the gel matrix of the dermis and stay there forever.
There are about 9 colours that are most frequently used in tattooing - they contain different ingredients. Black is the most commonly used tattoo ink. Natural black pigment is made from magnetite crystals, powdered jet, wustite, bone char, and amorphous carbon from combustion soot. The ingredients of black ink are iron oxide, carbon and logwood. Brown ink is made of ochre iron oxides mixed with clay , blue contains sodium aluminium silicate lapis lazuli and copper silicate Egyptian blue. Red ink carries an increased risk of allergy and contains cinnabar a toxic mineral and naphthol pigments.
The other commonly used inks are white, violet, yellow, green and orange. All of them contain a different combination of chemicals. The toxic ingredients of the tattoo ink and unhygienic practices are the main reasons behind the significant health risks linked with tattooing.
Ideally, the pain and redness should not be there after the first week of getting tattoed and by the 5th or 6th week the healing should be complete. Allergic reactions: Mild itching and redness are normal in tattoo healing, but if the symptoms progress to pus drainage and foul odour then you must immediately seek medical help. Most Popular in Safety Accidental mix of bleach and acid kills Buffalo Wild Wings employee What is an allergy sensitizer, and how does a chemical become one?
Humans have been tattooing themselves for millennia, motivated by reasons as diverse as the designs decorating their skin. These days, however, most of the million tattooed people worldwide have inked themselves for fashion.
This trend is on the upswing among young adults, especially women, who now possess more inked body art than men in Italy, Denmark, and the U. But if tattoos are now commonplace, knowing the ingredients and provenance of the colorful cocktail injected beneath the skin is not. Members of the ESOF panel voiced concern about patchy regulatory oversight of tattoo inks in the European Union and about a tattooing culture in which consumers rarely question tattoo artists about the origin of the pigments that decorate their bodies.
Given these issues, they called for research on the long-term health risks of tattooing and for harmonizing regulations controlling tattoo parlors and inks across the EU. The report notes that in the U. Tattoo artists also have concerns. The main risks identified, in descending order, are the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, primary aromatic amines, microorganisms, heavy metals, and preservatives.
Inks imported from the U. According to the JRC report, the bulk of tattoo health complications involve allergic reactions and hypersensitivity, mostly in red or black areas of tattoos.
Tattoo inks can contain a cornucopia of compounds: Some pigments and additives have been found in these products, Maria Pilar Aguar Fernandez told ESOF attendees. The top chemicals of concern found in tattoo inks, according to the report, are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAHs , such as benzo[ a ]pyrene, which is listed as a human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer IARC.
The report notes PAHs can migrate from the skin to lymph nodes. Tattoo inks may also contain potentially harmful metal impurities such as chromium, nickel, copper, and cobalt.
Tattoo pigments themselves can be health hazards. Fortunately, cinnabar, a mercury sulfide pigment, which was once a popular bright red in tattoo formulations, has been phased out of use.
Although many of these azo pigments are not of health concern while chemically intact, they can degrade with the help of bacteria or ultraviolet light into potentially cancer-causing primary aromatic amines, notes the report.
Another problematic component of tattoo inks is the preservatives that can be added to keep microbes from growing in the often nutrient-rich solutions. The JRC report highlights the need to fund research on the toxicity of tattoo ingredients and how they degrade in the body as well as to fund the development of analytical techniques to detect and monitor impurities. Across the EU, tattoo inks are regulated under a blanket consumer product law that dictates only safe products may be placed on the market.
The European Chemicals Agency is currently investigating whether tattoo ink ingredients should be subject to region-wide regulatory restrictions. In , the Council of Europe, an organization focused on promoting human rights and the integration of regulatory functions in the continent, recommended policies to ensure the safety of tattoos and permanent makeup. This document lists 62 chemicals that should not be present in tattoos and permanent makeup products.
Other EU countries have instituted licensing requirements for tattoo artists or made it illegal to tattoo without informing clients of potential health risks. Meanwhile the JRC report points out that no information about tattoo regulations was available for Hungary, Iceland, Lithuania, and the U.
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European regulators worry about the inks used to make body decorations, which can be repurposed from the car paint, plastics, and textile dye industries by Sarah Everts August 15, A version of this story appeared in Volume 94, Issue
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