Clinical and Pathological Features of Persistent Decorative Tattoo Reactions

José M Suárez-Peñaranda; Carmen Fachal; Maria Blanco-Bellas; Manuel Ginarte; Benigno Monteagudo; Alvaro León; Fernando González-Carril

doi:10.4103/ijd.ijd_951_21

Clinical and Pathological Features of Persistent Decorative Tattoo Reactions

Indian J Dermatol. 2022 Mar-Apr;67(2):152-156. doi: 10.4103/ijd.ijd_951_21.

Authors

José M Suárez-Peñaranda^{1

2}, Carmen Fachal³, Maria Blanco-Bellas⁴, Manuel Ginarte⁵, Benigno Monteagudo⁶, Alvaro León⁷, Fernando González-Carril⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology, University Clinical Hospital, Santiago de Compostela, Vigo, Spain.
² Department of Forensic Sciences and Pathology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Vigo, Spain.
³ Department of Pathology, University Hospital Alvaro Cunqueiro, Vigo, Spain.
⁴ Department of Pathology, University Hospital, Ferrol, Spain.
⁵ Department of Dermatology, University Clinical Hospital, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
⁶ Department of Dermatology, University Hospital, Ferrol, Spain.
⁷ Department of Dermatology, POVISA, Vigo, Spain.
⁸ Department of Pathology, POVISA, Vigo, Spain.

Abstract

Persistent, non-infectious medical complications arising from decorative tattoos have increased considerably. They are difficult to characterize clinically, and histopathology shows a wide variety of overlapping patterns, with lichenoid and granulomatous dermatitis being the most common findings. Both clinical and pathological findings are difficult to ascribe to particular ink colour. The findings in 30 biopsies from 28 patients with persistent reactions in decorative tattoos are reported, including immunohistochemical findings.

Keywords: Decorative-tattoos; histopathology patterns; lichenoid reactions: Granulomatous reactions; local therapy; non-infectious complications.