Tattoo-Associated Basal Cell Carcinoma: Coincident or Coincidence

Overview

Journal Biomed Hub

Specialty Biomedical Engineering

Date 2020 Sep 5

PMID 32884932

Citations 5

Authors

Philip R Cohen

Christof P Erickson

Nathan S Uebelhoer

Antoanella Calame

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Tattoos may be associated with medical complications including, albeit rarely, skin cancer. The features of a 46-year-old man who developed a basal cell carcinoma within a tattoo on his left scapula are described and the characteristics of the other 13 patients (7 men and 6 women) with tattoo-associated basal cell carcinoma are reviewed. The tumor usually occurs on the sun-exposed skin of individuals aged 60 years and older whose tattoo has often been present for 20 years or more. The pathogenesis of a basal cell carcinoma developing within a tattoo may merely be a coincidence. However, there is supporting evidence that the tattoo and the subsequent basal cell carcinoma may be coincident events whereby either tattoo injection-associated trauma or the tattoo pigments and dyes (in their native state or after ultraviolet radiation alteration) or both have a carcinogenic impact on the development of the basal cell carcinoma at that location.

Citing Articles

Skin cancers arising within tattoos: A systematic review.

Lebhar J, Jacobs J, Rundle C, Kaplan S, Mosca P JAAD Int. 2024; 16:133-143.

PMID: 38957835 PMC: 11217691. DOI: 10.1016/j.jdin.2024.03.015.

Tattoos: risks and complications, clinical and histopathological approach.

Chalarca-Canas D, Caviedes-Cleves M, Correa-Londono L, Ospina-Gomez J, Velasquez-Lopera M An Bras Dermatol. 2024; 99(4):491-502.

PMID: 38521707 PMC: 11221160. DOI: 10.1016/j.abd.2023.07.004.

Epidural analgesia and tattoos: a modified technique to minimise risks and improve safety.

Retroz-Marques C, Correia A, Marques A, Gomes P BMJ Case Rep. 2023; 16(12).

PMID: 38142054 DOI: 10.1136/bcr-2022-254058.

Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Tattoo: A Man With a Tattoo-Associated Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Review of Benign Tumors, Lymphoid Conditions, and Malignant Neoplasms Occurring Within a Tattoo.

Cohen P Cureus. 2022; 14(1):e21083.

PMID: 35155032 PMC: 8825690. DOI: 10.7759/cureus.21083.

Tattoo-Associated Viral Infections: A Review.

Cohen P Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol. 2021; 14:1529-1540.

PMID: 34720594 PMC: 8549973. DOI: 10.2147/CCID.S284796.

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