Back in the day, hardly anyone had a tattoo.
If they did, it was usually indicative of some sort of hard life – military, prison, or mafia.
Now, though, they’re literally everywhere; you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone under forty without at least one.
Which means that a link between tattoos and cancer could be concerning for a whole bunch of people.
A recent study, published in eClinicalMedicine, surveyed 12,000 people and examined every subject between 20-60 years old who had been diagnosed with lymphoma.
When they compared those details against those in a group of people who had never had lymphoma, they found that the people in the first group who had at least one tattoo were 21% more likely to have developed cancer.
To be clear, this is an association, not a definitive link or a causal relationship.
If it did turn out to be one of those things, though, 21% would represent a pretty significant risk.
For their findings, co-author Christel Nielsen says the size or number of tattoos didn’t matter.
“We do not yet know why this was the case. One can only speculate that a tattoo, regardless of size, triggers a low-grade inflammation in the body, which in turn can trigger cancer. The picture is thus more complex than we initially thought.”
Many experts, like epidemiologist Timothy Rebbeck, are skeptical that this research will hold up to scrutiny.
“If I were writing that paper, if I were the editor, I would have said the conclusion is, there is no evidence for a strong association.”
The main reason for this skepticism is that no one knows what causes lymphoma (if there is anything specific at all) – and also that known risk factors aren’t associated with tattooing.
The study is also limited in nature, and doesn’t address any lifestyle factors that could also come into play.
Any practice that draws blood comes with health and hygiene risks, and there have long been some fears that tattoo ink could contain carcinogens.
That said, experts like Erwin Grussie consider tattooing safe, by and large, as long as you visit a responsible artist and shop.
“I don’t believe that anybody who has a tattoo should freak out right now. I don’t think it means somebody who has a tattoo will develop lymphoma. We should wait for more data.”
Anyway, there’s no point in panicking now.
What’s done is done, and tattoos are forever.
If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a quantum computer simulation that has “reversed time” and physics may never be the same.