Do you have an old tattoo? Well, this could be an alarming story for you. Doctors thought a woman had cancer, but it turns out, the symptoms she was experiencing were due to a complication of her old tattoo.The odd case is detailed in a new paper published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
A Woman’s ‘Cancer’ Turns Out To Be A Complication Of Her Old Tattoo
By
Sughra Hafeez in
Health and Fitness
On 8th October 2017
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#1
Doctors in Australia suspected a 30-year-old woman had lymphoma – a cancer of the lymphatic system – but after they operated, they discovered her symptoms were caused by something completely unexpected.
#2
Her enlarged lymph nodes were actually the result of a reaction she had to a 15-year-old tattoo.“Ninety-nine times out of 100, [this] will be lymphoma,” one of the woman's doctors, Christian Bryant, told CNN.
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#3
When surgeons removed one of the enlarged nodes from the woman's armpit, they discovered something else entirely — a collection of immune cells that were filled with dark coloring.
#4
The woman first came to the clinic complaining of small lumps under her arms.She told doctors that her tattoos would sometimes become itchy and swollen, but that her skin would then return to normal.
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#5
The case report says that she had no other symptoms such as fever, weight loss, night sweats and other pulmonary issues.
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#6
However, the enlarged lymph nodes, which were about 1.5 centimeters in diameter, were actually caused by a reaction she had to a 15-year-old tattoo.
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#7
In a case report published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the authors wrote that the 30-year-old woman, who was not identified, most likely had a hypersensitive reaction to ink from tattoos.
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#8
The authors wrote in their findings that tattoos can be linked to “acute complications, such as pain, infection, and hypersensitivity” as well as enlarged lymph nodes that may “masquerade as malignant disease.”
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#9
Why the patient experienced the reaction so many years later appears to be a mystery.
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#10
The doctors found reports of similar cases of delayed lymph node swelling caused by tattoo pigment, including one that occurred 30 years after tattooing.
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#11
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it received 363 reports of adverse reactions to tattoos from 2004 to 2016.
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#12
The common reactions to tattoo ink are allergies, pain, and infection.
#13
Tattoo reactions are uncommon. However, some people may have hypersensitivity reactions to some elements in ink or may develop an infection on the site of the tattoo.
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#14
A man in Mexico had died after swimming with a fresh tattoo. There are many reactions because nobody really knows what’s in tattoo ink.
#15
FDA has not approved any inks for injection into the skin for cosmetic purposes.
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#16
Research has shown that tattoo ink sometimes contains pigments used in printer toner or car paint and can be contaminated with bacteria or mold, according to the FDA. The agency states there’s “no surefire way to tell if the ink is safe.”
