I have nothing against tattoos, I don't want one, I often think some are ugly and I do cringe at times when young people get inked and I worry about how they will react in the future.

Anyway, I had a patient this week a young woman with lymphoma. Not a massive deal but not nice, Anyhow she was heavily inked, we had to take a lymph node for diagnostics and when my lab looked at it it was black. Full of ink. The histologists got back to me with the same thing, lymph node saturated with ink particles.

I never knew that the ink saturates the body, something to think about if you are thinking of a tat and are unsure.

I was going to say that could be worth a paper, but ...

http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm048919.htm

Wow!!! Suddenly feeling better about it never working out to being able to get one

Quote from: AnonyMs on December 11, 2014, 05:37:54 AM
I was going to say that could be worth a paper, but ...

http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm048919.htm

Thanks it did come up for discussion in the oncology review. There were concerns raised whether graphite contamination could affect either chemo or radiation.

I don't think we had concerns that the ink caused the lymphoma, but we are in early days of looking at people who have had large amounts of graphite injected into themselves. Considering the lead times for known carcinogens we won't see information on possible affects of inking as a carcinogen for 20 odd years.

It is a worry though.

Skin is a very important barrier in the primary immune system, penetrating it is fraught with potential danger.

I always preferred  the natural look

It makes me wonder where all those colors come from.

Even with graphite, I'm sure I'm sure read something about how different size particle can have very different effects. I wonder how uniform the particle size is - I doubt it something they take into consideration when making ink.

Her tats are all dark - black

Been trying to find info on how ink colours are made.

Fascinating what you can get lead into, I'm a lousy chemist but the chemistry of ink is intersting

 Gee thanks. I have ink on my nature no HRT yet boobies

I got a bunch of them.   

Not worried too much. Maybe it depends on the location? something crazy like close to armpits, neck, thighs? or other locations close to lymphnodes? ...or simply too much ink? that I can imagine.

I do want to remove them, but have to save some money as it isn't cheap. They also remind me of my former life, so I really want them gone someday.

I was thinking of getting a wolf and a geometry tattoo... 

I already paid a fortune in LHR for smooth skin. There's no way I'd ever intentionally scar it again.

Scary.  You'd think a crazy old heavy metal bat like me would be covered with them by now, but I don't have a single one.  Most of my friends are inked, and I do know that quality of the ink has a lot to do with it staying in place.   Some people I know got cheap ink when they were young, and a lot those tats essentially turned into amorphous blobs.  Who knows where else that ink could have migrated.

I'm going to wait until I'm 70 so I can have the baddest ink in the retirement home. 

Er, so my full back photo-realistic "Cindy" portrait tattoo was a mistake?

Quote from: Cindy on December 11, 2014, 06:18:07 AM
Her tats are all dark - black

Been trying to find info on how ink colours are made.

Fascinating what you can get lead into, I'm a lousy chemist but the chemistry of ink is intersting

Compostion of Tattoo Pigments
Color
  Materials
Comment
Black   Iron Oxide (Fe3O4)
Iron Oxide (FeO)

Carbon

Logwood

Natural black pigment is made from magnetite crystals, powdered jet, wustite, bone black,and amorphous carbon from combustion (soot). Black pigment is commonly made into India ink.
Logwood is a heartwood extract from Haematoxylon campechisnum, found in Central America and the West Indies.

Brown   Ochre   Ochre is composed of iron (ferric) oxides mixed with clay. Raw ochre is yellowish. When dehydrated through heating, ochre changes to a reddish color.
Red   Cinnabar (HgS)
Cadmium Red (CdSe)

Iron Oxide (Fe2O3)

Napthol-AS pigment

Iron oxide is also known as common rust. Cinnabar and cadmium pigments are highly toxic. Napthol reds are synthesized from Naptha. Fewer reactions have been reported with naphthol red than the other pigments, but all reds carry risks of allergic or other reactions.
Orange   disazodiarylide and/or disazopyrazolone
cadmium seleno-sulfide

The organics are formed from the condensation of 2 monoazo pigment molecules. They are large molecules with good thermal stability and colorfastness.
Flesh   Ochres (iron oxides mixed with clay)   
Yellow   Cadmium Yellow (CdS, CdZnS)
Ochres

Curcuma Yellow

Chrome Yellow (PbCrO4, often mixed with PbS)

disazodiarylide

Curcuma is derived from plants of the ginger family; aka tumeric or curcurmin. Reactions are commonly associated with yellow pigments, in part because more pigment is needed to achieve a bright color.
Green   Chromium Oxide (Cr2O3), called Casalis Green or Anadomis Green
Malachite [Cu2(CO3)(OH)2]

Ferrocyanides and Ferricyanides

Lead chromate

Monoazo pigment

Cu/Al phthalocyanine

Cu phthalocyanine

The greens often include admixtures, such as potassium ferrocyanide (yellow or red) and ferric ferrocyanide (Prussian Blue)
Blue   Azure Blue
Cobalt Blue

Cu-phthalocyanine

Blue pigments from minerals include copper (II) carbonate (azurite), sodium aluminum silicate (lapis lazuli), calcium copper silicate (Egyptian Blue), other cobalt aluminum oxides and chromium oxides. The safest blues and greens are copper salts, such as copper pthalocyanine. Copper pthalocyanine pigments have FDA approval for use in infant furniture and toys and contact lenses. The copper-based pigments are considerably safer or more stable than cobalt or ultramarine pigments.
Violet   Manganese Violet (manganese ammonium pyrophosphate)
Various aluminum salts

Quinacridone

Dioxazine/carbazole

Some of the purples, especially the bright magentas, are photoreactive and lose their color after prolonged exposure to light. Dioxazine and carbazole result in the most stable purple pigments.
White   Lead White (Lead Carbonate)
Titanium dioxide (TiO2)

Barium Sulfate (BaSO4)

Zinc Oxide

Some white pigments are derived from anatase or rutile. White pigment may be used alone or to dilute the intensity of other pigments. Titanium oxides are one of the least reactive white pigments.

For a minute I thought you posted a Frito's label! 

I have a bit of ink. I never thought it would be a potential carcinogen. Then again I never thought I was going to make 38. I am 52 now.

mercury, lead, cadmium, selenide... toxic and carcinogenic... population control? or Darwinian selection?

Thanks Peky I was trying to find that info.

Considered it back in 1994, decided against it.

I've wanted a tattoo since I was in my 20s. At 43, I think I'm finally old enough to get one :p