01/12/2025
People's with tattoos might need to read this ...
A recent study published in the journal eClinicalMedicine has sparked headlines claiming that people with tattoos face a 29% higher risk of developing malignant lymphoma, a serious cancer of the lymphatic system, not skin cancer as some viral posts mistakenly reported.
The research, conducted by scientists at Lund University in Sweden, compared 11,905 people, identifying 2,938 who had lymphoma and matching them with healthy controls of the same age and s*x.
Among those diagnosed with lymphoma before age 40, the tattooed individuals showed a striking 29% increased risk after adjusting for factors like smoking and education level.
The researchers initially hypothesized that tattoo ink might act like ultraviolet radiation, triggering skin cancer, but surprisingly found no elevated risk for skin cancers.
Instead, the strongest association appeared with lymphoma, particularly diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and follicular lymphoma.
They suspect that tattoo ink particles, often containing potential carcinogens like heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, travel through the lymphatic system after being deposited in the skin, causing chronic low-grade inflammation that could promote cancer development over time.
However, experts emphasize caution in interpreting the results. This was an observational case-control study, not a randomized trial, so it proves correlation, not causation. Other unmeasured lifestyle factors common among tattooed individuals could explain the link.
The absolute risk remains low—only about 1 in 400 tattooed people in the study developed lymphoma—and larger, longer-term studies are needed before drawing firm conclusions. For now, the findings raise an intriguing question but do not prove tattoos cause cancer.