Tattoos have grown in popularity over the years, but many people don’t fully understand the tattooing process.
While it’s common knowledge that tattoos carry certain risks, such as fading or blowing out, few know just how deep the ink actually penetrates the skin. One tattoo artist has shared a video to demonstrate this by using a sausage instead of human skin.
In a clip posted on Facebook, the artist shows how the needle enters the skin, with a voiceover explaining: “The needle deposits 1.5-2 millimeters of ink into the skin. The needle goes through five layers of skin, directly into the dermis.”
While this might sound deep, it’s only about one-sixteenth of an inch — quite a small distance.
For a tattoo to be permanent and look its best, the needle must penetrate the dermis, the second layer of skin, after piercing through the five layers of the epidermis.
As tattoos become more mainstream, numerous studies have been conducted to explore the potential health impacts of tattoo ink, particularly as it enters the body.
A study from Lund University in Sweden raised concerns about the long-term health effects of tattoos, finding that the risk of developing lymphoma was 21 percent higher among those who had tattoos. While the researchers noted that lymphoma is a rare disease and other factors could be involved, they also found that the body treats tattoo ink as a foreign substance and attempts to move it from the skin to the lymph nodes as the immune system responds.
Other research has focused on how different tattoo inks affect the body, and one specific color appears to be more likely to cause harm than others.
A study from Duke University School of Medicine identified red tattoo pigment as the ink most commonly linked to the development of tumors. The study found that 36.9 percent of tumors appeared in tattoos that contained red ink, suggesting that this color may pose a higher risk.
In response to concerns about the safety of tattoo inks, some countries, including the UK, have imposed bans on certain inks due to potential carcinogenic properties. Tattoo ink manufacturers have been given time to find alternative formulas.
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