Tattoos: What's Happening Under Your Skin - Southeastern Dermatology (2024)

FAQs

What happens to tattoo ink under the skin? ›

The ink that isn't taken away by the white blood cells (macrophages), then remains in the dermis within trapped white blood cells and becomes absorbed by skin cells known as fibroblasts. The dye in the ink of the cells is what shows through and what keeps it settled in and permanent.

A Tattoo needle penetrates 5 layers of the epidermis

That may sound like a lot of skin, but in reality it is only 1/16th of an inch, about 1-2mm. That's pretty tiny. It goes through five layers of the epidermis, through the dermal layer, and into the topmost layer of the dermis.

Sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disease that can affect the skin and other organs, sometimes first appears with bumps at the site of a tattoo, she says. Infections are more common within the first couple of days or weeks of getting a tattoo, Dr.

Below the skin's surface, the ink spreads out in a layer of fat. This creates the blurring associated with a tattoo blowout. Tissue samples, called biopsies, taken from people with tattoo blowouts show that there's ink much deeper below the skin than there should be.

Tattoo ink particles are phagocytosed (“eaten”) by dermal macrophages—part of the immune system—living below the epidermis. The ink doesn't disappear because it remains intracellular, inside cells that don't migrate away.

Tattoos tend to peel without any ink underneath as they heal normally. In rare cases, they can have missing ink due to an artist's error. Peeling tattoos with missing ink aren't usually anything to worry about. It's normal for a tattoo to peel and lose a little bit of ink as your skin heals.

The tattooing process involves inserting ink pigment of the desired colour into the dermis layer of the skin. This is carried out by first dipping a needled tattoo instrument into the coloured ink before applying to the skin.

Per Leviticus 19:28, “You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves.” Historically, scholars have often understood this as a warning against pagan practices of mourning.

If equipment used to create a tattoo has infected blood on it, you can get diseases that are spread through blood. Examples include methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. To lower your risk, get vaccinated for hepatitis B before you get a tattoo.

If you have a medical problem such as heart disease, allergies, diabetes, skin problems like eczema or psoriasis, a weak immune system, or a bleeding problem, talk to your doctor before getting a tattoo. Also, if you get keloids (an overgrowth of scar tissue) you probably should not get a tattoo.

What happens if pen ink gets under your skin? ›

Is pen ink toxic for skin? Does pen ink cause skin cancer? Pen ink is considered non-toxic on the skin, but may stain it. Pressing the point of the pen into your skin could result in an infection.

"Normally, the ink doesn't migrate too far from where it's injected," Dr. Arisa Ortiz, a dermatologist and director of laser and cosmetic dermatology at the U.C. San Diego Health, told Live Science. "For the most part, it is engulfed [by skin or immune cells] and then kind of sticks around in the dermis."

Inks applied under the skin can migrate through the body by blood flow. Various diseases, deformations, organ failures, and adverse effects have been reported in humans due to metal toxicity.

The dermis, a connective tissue made up of collagen and networks of elastic fibers which give skin its resiliency, is the layer in which tattoo ink is deposited. The dermis (papillary layer) immediately below the epidermis is made of loose connective tissue and contains small blood vessels and nerve endings.