2 days Ago
Topline Over a third of 75 tattoo and permanent makeup inks from popular brands tested positive for bacteria in a new study, regardless of sterility claims, and the FDA has increasingly warned about tattoo ink-related infections after reports of adverse events have grown over the years. close up tattoo machine. Man tattooing another man.
Key Facts The researchers tested 75 tattoo and permanent makeup inks from 14 popular brands for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, according to the new study published Tuesday in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Aerobic bacteria are bacteria that live and grow when oxygen is present, while anaerobic bacteria survive and grow when there is no oxygen present, and thrive in injured human tissue and the dermal layer of the skin. They discovered around 35% of the tested inks—which were sealed and unopened—were contaminated with both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, according to the study.
Over half of the inks’ labels had sterility claims, but the researchers found the inks had bacteria contamination regardless of whether the product labels indicated they were sterile, meaning the sterilization process is ineffective or the claims are inaccurate. Although the most common tattoo-related adverse complications are allergic and inflammatory reactions, microbial infections are also an adverse event; it was previously thought the main source of infection was improper hygiene, but more recent studies have suggested contaminated tattoo ink may al.
