Might want to think twice before getting that tattoo

[Leonardo Noto]

As reported in both a study and an editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine this week, there was a recent outbreak of nontuberculosis mycobacteria in contaminated tattoo ink. The specific case series was in Rochester, NY, but there have been reports of several different outbreaks, involving several different strains of mycobacteria, throughout the U.S. It would appear that the manufacturing process of tattoo ink is the problem b/c the tattoo parlors where these infections were traced to were not in violation of industry standards.

I don't give specific medical advice on the internet (for legal reasons), but if you have recently gotten a tattoo and it appears infected you need to go see your physician immediately. So far, most of the cases have responded to either macrolide antibiotics or doxycycline (both common types of antibiotics). If you're planning on getting a tattoo, it might be prudent to wait until after the FDA determines exactly what went wrong in the production of tattoo ink (at several companies...possibly contaminated diluents) before walking into the parlor drunk!

Dr. Leonardo Noto

 

[sparkchaser]

Interesting.

Link to news stories?

 

[Annie2186]

Oh wow.
And to think I was actually going to get a tattoo!

Yeah right, who am I kidding?

 

[SFG75]

I would imagine regulations differ by state. In mine, they are required to have a klavinator to heat up and cleanse the needle & gun. Some places require new ink bottles every time. If you really wanted to be safe, insist on a new needle and gun to go with the new ink. Might be a bit more costly.

 

[Lovecraftian]

If you really want to be safe, skip the tattoo.

 

[Leonardo Noto]

I would imagine regulations differ by state. In mine, they are required to have a klavinator to heat up and cleanse the needle & gun. Some places require new ink bottles every time. If you really wanted to be safe, insist on a new needle and gun to go with the new ink. Might be a bit more costly.

It's good that they require all of that in your state, but it wouldn't have mattered in these cases b/c the problem was that the bottles were contaminated straight from the factories (several different producers). The leading hypothesis is that the diluents used to dilute the black ink to make it gray were the problem, but no one really knows for sure. Regardless, the parlors were cleared in these cases and the problem was the manufacturers.