>>19523970A 30-year-old woman, treated with immunomodulators due to an ulcerative colitis, presented to our hospital with an accidental finding of bilateral axillary polyadenopathies on echography in a presurgery breast augmentation procedure. The patient claimed no symptoms, and the fact that she lived with cats was the only epidemiological data of interest. A physical examination revealed painless and superficial adenopathies approximately 1cm large on both the left supraclavicular fossa and bilateral axillary cavity. Three tattoos were found on the patient.
Our aim with this case is to draw attention to the potential adverse effects of having tattoos. This aesthetic procedure is more and more common in our society (about 60million people in Europe and 16% of the population in the USA have at least one tattoo).1 However, there is widespread lack of knowledge regarding how ink degrades under the skin as well as the effects of such degradation. The biggest problem may arise over the long term, as some patients have had reactions months or years following the procedure (it was 6 years in the case of our patient).
Pigment accumulates in the dermis and spreads across the intracellular space, causing haemorrhage, necrosis and inflammation that results in phagocytosis by skin macrophages. Macrophages reach the lymph nodes, where inflammatory reactions can take place and, in many cases, last long after the tattoo has been removed. Sometimes this can be revealed subclinically (autopsies of tattooed patients sometimes reveal the existence of regional adenopathies with pigments).
https://casereports.bmj.com/content/12/6/e230909https://archive.4plebs.org/_/search/text/tattoo%20ink%20lymph/ 