Needles suspected of causing allergies

Is there no way to avoid allergies when you get tattooed? We already knew that the ink
tattoos could cause this kind of reaction. But researchers have just shown that needles can also play a role in triggering allergies.

Indeed, the particles of chromium and nickel from the needle "migrate to the lymph nodes," says the international team of scientists, which include researchers from the European Synchrotron Grenoble. Their findings appear in a study, published this Tuesday in the journal Particle and Fiber Toxicology.

Long-term risks difficult to measure

Both of these metals, present in needles, can cause hypersensitivity reactions and play a role in allergies. This is the first time that the role of the needles is thus scientifically raised.

Pigments are regularly mentioned as a cause of tattoo allergies. Nothing to do with a lack of hygiene: the phenomenon can appear when the ink contains titanium dioxide (present in the bright colors), explain the researchers. Allergy rarely occurs with black ink.

Adverse reactions related to tattooing, a practice to which 18% of French adults have joined, have become common, worries the authors of the study. But "the exact impact (tattoos) on health" is still difficult to measure according to Ines Schreiver, lead author of the study. These "long-term" effects can only be evaluated "by epidemiological studies that monitor the health of thousands of people over decades".