Doctors put out warning about newly discovered risk of getting a tattoo

Doctors have released fresh warnings about what effect tattoos may have on you a whole 15 years after getting inked. 

A woman was admitted to hospital suffering enlarged lymph nodes and discovered that it was a reaction to tattooing which had been done 15 years previously.

The Australian patient feared she had cancer after noticing painful lumps in her armpit.

However, when doctors in Sydney removed the tissue it was found to be harmless.

Doctors have known for some time that tattoo ink travels to the lymph nodes - which are used by the body to clear out toxins in the body - because the nodes can change to the same colour of the ink. But the new study shows the effect can still happen more than a decade after a person gets a tattoo.

"When someone wants to get a tattoo, they are often very careful in choosing a parlour where they use sterile needles that haven´t been used previously.

"No one checks the chemical composition of the colours, but our study shows that maybe they should", said Hiram Castillo, one of the authors of the study and scientist at the ESRF.

Just something to keep in mind before getting the ink!