Individuals with tattoos, particularly larger ones, may have an increased risk of lymphoma and skin cancer, according to a recent study.
“We are concerned that tattoo ink interacting with surrounding cells may have severe consequences,” the authors, led by Signe Bedsted Clemmensen, PhD, of the University of Southern Denmark, noted. The results were published in BMC Public Health.
Increased risk
The prevalence of individuals with tattoos has increased by 20% to 25% in certain countries, particularly among younger generations. “Our study was initiated based on the suspicion that ink deposits will interact with surrounding tissue causing increased cell proliferation and thereby increase cancer risk,” the authors explained.
They included information from two twin studies. The first included 2,459 twin pairs born between 1960 and 1996 who were randomly selected from the nationwide Danish Twin Register. The second included 316 individuals from a cohort of all twin pairs born in Denmark during the same time period.
Cancer diagnoses were collected from the Danish Cancer Registry, and tattoo ink exposure was collected from the 2021 Danish Twin Tattoo survey, which asks about tattoo status, age at first tattoo, colors used, and size.
In the case-control study, individual-level analysis showed a risk of skin cancer (any type except basal cell carcinoma) that was 1.62 times higher among tattooed individuals.
For both skin cancer and lymphoma, the size of the tattoo impacted risk; tattoos larger than the palm of a hand was associated with increased hazard ratios for these cancers (2.37 and 2.73, respectively). “Larger tattoos may show a stronger effect either due to higher dose of exposure or longer time of exposure (from tattoos acquired over time),” the authors offered.
The study is limited by its lack of information on sun exposure.
“Studies that pinpoint the etiological pathway of tattoo ink induced carcinogenesis are recommended to benefit public health,” the authors concluded.
Reference
Clemmensen SB, Mengel-From J, Kaprio J, Frederiksen H, von Bornemann Hjelmborg J. Tattoo ink exposure is associated with lymphoma and skin cancers – a Danish study of twins. BMC Public Health. 2025;25(1):170. doi:10.1186/s12889-025-21413-3
