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 Just 43 percent of tattoo artists surveyed for the study said they
had received training on how to handle skin with moles, spots or
other skin lesions.
About 55 percent of the tattoo artists said they had declined to ink
skin with any of these visible abnormalities, but they were more apt
to refuse for aesthetic reasons than out of concern for skin cancer,
the study found.
“The tattoo artists’ approach may vary with how large or raised the
mole is, but we know that skin cancer can occur even in relatively
small and flat lesions, which should not be inked over,” said lead
study author Westley Mori, a researcher at the University of
Pittsburgh Medical School.
At least one in five U.S. adults have one or more tattoos, according
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
To avoid complications like infections, people getting tattoos
should seek out a shop that sterilizes equipment, ask about where
the ink comes from and what ingredients are in it, and make sure the
artist wears gloves and opens sterile needles for the job, according
to the CDC.
Steering clear of lesions or moles may also make it easier for
tattoo customers to avoid missing early signs of skin cancer or
melanoma, Mori said by email.
“Even if a lesion looks normal now, that could change over time,”
Mori said. “Tattooing over the moles or other skin lesions can make
tracking its evolution by a dermatologist difficult.”
While some moles and discolorations or bumps on the skin may be
harmless, changes in a mole such as shifts in the symmetry, border,
color, size, shape or texture can be warnings that skin cancer or
melanoma is developing.
Caught early, melanoma can be cured, but more advanced malignancies
can be difficult to treat and are more likely to be fatal.
For the current study, researchers analyzed data from anonymous
surveys completed by 42 professional tattoo artists, half of whom
had worked in the field for at least eight years.
Only 17 percent of the tattoo artists said they received regular
skin exams or mole checks themselves, while about 7 percent had had
a skin biopsy and slightly more than 2 percent had a skin cancer
diagnosis or knew a close friend or relative with this diagnosis,
researchers report in JAMA Dermatology.
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Roughly 21 percent said they had had “great” knowledge about
melanoma and 14 percent reported “great” knowledge about other skin
cancers.
However, just 29 percent of the tattoo artists said they had refused
to tattoo skin with a rash, lesion or spot out of concern for skin
cancer.
That’s the same proportion of artists who said they had identified a
spot on a client that might be skin cancer or recommended that a
customer see a dermatologist to have a suspicious area of skin
checked out.
Beyond its small size, other limitations of the study include the
lack of data on what information tattoo artists actually knew about
skin cancer or how well they could identify potentially worrisome
things on the skin.
“Tattoo artists definitely are not trained adequately with respect
to different skin lesions- not only skin cancers, but also various
infections (such as warts) that can spread during the tattoo
process,” said Dr. Tina Alster, director of the Washington Institute
of Dermatologic Laser Surgery and a researcher at Georgetown
University Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Before getting a tattoo, customers should have a dermatologist check
for moles or other abnormalities, especially if they have a family
history of melanoma, Alster, who wasn’t involved in the study, said
by email.
“The public is unaware that tattoo artists hold business licenses,
but no safety licenses,” Alster said. “In essence, people getting
tattoos are having needles inserted in their skin by practitioners
with no medical or safety training.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2jUyLZM JAMA Dermatology, online January 18,
2017.
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