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Possible association between tattoos and lymphoma

lunduniversity.lu.se

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Re: Possible association between tattoos and lymphoma

#112
post #84
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hypothesis is that macrophages transport ink to the lymph nodes during the healing period

The study itself [0] makes a stronger claim: When any antigen breaches the skin barrier, the local immunologic response includes cell-mediated translocation of the antigen to the local lymph nodes from where a systemic immune response is initiated. The translocation of tattoo ink seems to be very effective; it has been estimated that 32% of the injected pigment is translocated after 6 weeks, and that as much as 99% m…

Yes, sorry. I meant the hypothesis is that that’s what’s causing the cancer.

Didn’t realize it continued after the healing process as well. That logically means that the earlier you got the tattoo the worse it is.

Re: Possible association between tattoos and lymphoma

#113
post #66
post #64

I’m not surprised — tattoo inks are not regulated and the colors are often formed with toxic compounds (e.g. copper). Then the needle avoids the protective barrier provided by the skin. Ironically, while working on a drug program that involved intradermal injection, we needed to tattoo the injection site so we could find it later. The FDA was very demanding that both the procedure and more importantly to them the dye…

> barred from investigating the effect on humans Wait they're legally prevented from investigating tattoo inks? Why?

I don't think this is true. According to the FDA's site they could regulate tattoo inks but have chosen not to.

> FDA considers the inks used in intradermal tattoos, including permanent makeup, to be cosmetics. When we identify a safety problem associated with a cosmetic, including a tattoo ink, we investigate and take action, as appropriate, to prevent consumer illness or injury. The pigments used in the inks are color additives, which are subject to premarket approval under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. However, because of other competing public health priorities and a previous lack of evidence of safety problems specifically associated with these pigments, FDA traditionally has not exercised regulatory authority for color additives on the pigments used in tattoo inks. The actual practice of tattooing is regulated by local jurisdictions.

- https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetic-products/tattoos-perm...

Re: Possible association between tattoos and lymphoma

#114
post #85
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> barred from investigating the effect on humans Wait they're legally prevented from investigating tattoo inks? Why?

Tattoo ink is not a food or a drug and is not intended to treat or diagnose any disease or medical condition.

Government agencies are not restricted to only regulating the words in their names, and the FDA was named 118 years ago. It was given the authority to regulate cosmetics in 1938: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Food,_Drug,_and_Cosm...

Re: Possible association between tattoos and lymphoma

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. John didn’t buy that classic car because he’s in a midlife crisis. He bought it because it’s been his dream car since he was 12, and, with the kids out of the house, he can finally get it without having a bad conscience. (It just costs $80k now instead of $8k back in 1972)

Unrelated, but one of the most interesting graphs I've ever seen was road deaths, by gender and age, when I was studying for my drivers license. There's a huge, like 10x spike in male deaths, specifically at 50. Turns out a lot of people hit that age, think "oh fuck I'm 50", go and buy a really powerful car, and get in a bad crash. So buy the car, but just keep the graph in mind haha.

I looked up a premium car rental site once and saw that some vehicles there had an age restriction of... 40.

As in: you need to be past your thirties to rent this vehicle.

Re: Possible association between tattoos and lymphoma

#120

"We found no evidence of increasing risk with a larger area of total tattooed body surface." Without a dose response, I'm inclined to believe that the increase in lymphoma seen in people with tattoos has more to do with confounding factors than with the ink or the act of getting a needle poked into your skin. I would think that controlling for all confounders in a study like this would be exceptionally difficult. Tha…

Tattoos basically shift your immune system into overdrive https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGggU-Cxhv0
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