A case of multiple squamous cell carcinomas arising from red tattoo pigment

Abstract

Ornamental tattooing involves the administration of exogenous pigments into the skin to create a permanent design. Our case focuses on a 62-year-old woman who presented with an inflamed enlarging nodule on her right proximal calf, which arose within the red pigment of an ornamental tattoo. The nodule was diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and subsequently excised. Over the course of the following year, the patient was diagnosed with a total of five additional SCCs that also arose within the red pigment of the tattoo. The increased popularity of tattooing and the lack of industry safety standards for tattoo ink production, especially metal-laden red pigments, may lead to more cases of skin cancer arising within tattoos among patients of all ages.