SALT LAKE CITY — For years, tattoos have been a form of self-expression, but now researchers with the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah believe they have found a surprising health benefit: reduced skin cancer risk.
The researchers say that people with more than one tattoo session may have a decreased risk of the skin cancer melanoma, with one key cut out.
The team, led by Jennifer Doherty, the co-leader of the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Program, evaluated 7,000 Utahns. They found that those that have had 2 or more tattoo sessions decreased in risk of both invasive and in situ melanoma.
In situ melanoma means that the cancer cells remain on the skin’s surface and are more easily removed.
However, researchers found that the participants with only one tattoo session were more likely to have melanoma, especially in situ. Experts ponder the reasons why that may be the case, but it is speculative, and more research is needed to understand the pattern.
“Tattoos are increasingly common, and it’s an understudied form of environmental exposure, especially in young people. We really need to understand how tattoos could impact risk for different types of cancer,” says Doherty.
Pew Research Center data shows that a third of American adults have tattoos. Around 41% of Americans under 30 have at least 1 tattoo, as do 46% of people between the ages of 30 and 49.
“For melanoma, the results seem to be mixed,” Doherty explained. “But we see people with two, three, and four tattoo sessions having decreasing risk, and that’s a stronger pattern than the increased risk with just one session.”
According to the team, they originally hypothesized that having more tattoos would increase melanoma risk due to carcinogens, like metals and other chemicals, in tattoo ink. Experts say that the ink in a person’s skin can break down over time and create new carcinogens that weren’t originally present.
“The results that tattoos could decrease melanoma risk surprised us. But this isn’t a black and white case of ‘get more tattoos, and you could lower your risk of melanoma,’” explained Rachel McCarty, a post-doctoral scientist at the International Agency for Research on Cancer. “Instead, we need to do more research to understand what we are seeing and if this decreased risk is simply due to behavioral or physical factors, or if there could be beneficial immune responses associated with tattooing which lower melanoma risk.”
One theory that researchers laid out was that those with several tattoos are more cautious with sun safety and take better care of their skin. Another is that tattoos could form a physical barrier that blocks ultraviolet radiation or cause an immune response against precancerous cells.
“Tattoo artists already advise their clients to wear sunscreen and sun protection to prevent tattoos from fading,” says McCarty. “We know wearing sunscreen is an important safety step for everyone, even without tattoos.”
The research was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
