{"id":238971,"date":"2026-06-14T14:03:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T19:03:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/nanoparticles-from-tattoos-circulate-inside-the-body-study-finds"},"modified":"2026-06-14T14:03:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T19:03:29","slug":"nanoparticles-from-tattoos-circulate-inside-the-body-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/nanoparticles-from-tattoos-circulate-inside-the-body-study-finds","title":{"rendered":"Nanoparticles from tattoos circulate inside the body, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The elements that make up the ink in tattoos travel inside the body in micro and nanoparticle forms and reach the lymph nodes, according to a study published in Scientific Reports<\/i> on 12 September by scientists from Germany and the ESRF, the European Synchrotron, Grenoble (France). It is the first time researchers have found analytical evidence of the transport of organic and inorganic pigments and toxic element impurities as well as in depth characterization of the pigments ex vivo in tattooed tissues. Two ESRF beamlines were crucial in this breakthrough.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen someone wants to get a tattoo, they are often very careful in choosing a parlour where they use sterile needles that haven\u2019t been used previously. No one checks the chemical composition of the colours, but our study shows that maybe they should,\u201d explains Hiram Castillo, one of the authors of the study and scientist at the ESRF.<\/p>\n

The reality is that little is known about the potential impurities in the colour mixture applied to the skin. Most tattoo inks contain organic pigments, but also include preservatives and contaminants like nickel, chromium, manganese or cobalt. Besides carbon black, the second most common ingredient used in tattoo inks is titanium dioxide<\/a> (TiO2), a white pigment<\/a> usually applied to create certain shades when mixed with colorants. TiO2 is also commonly used in food additives, sunscreens and paints. Delayed healing, along with skin elevation and itching, are often associated with white tattoos, and by consequence with the use of TiO2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The elements that make up the ink in tattoos travel inside the body in micro and nanoparticle forms and reach the lymph nodes, according to a study published in Scientific Reports on 12 September by scientists from Germany and the ESRF, the European Synchrotron, Grenoble (France). It is the first time researchers have found analytical [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":746,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,1506,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chemistry","category-food","category-nanotechnology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/746"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238971\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}