A 30-year-old woman who presented to doctors with small lumps on her arms and was almost misdiagnosed with lymphoma, ultimately was discovered with black-tattoo ink filled lymph nodes.
As published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the woman was being tested at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney when doctors first suspected the swollen lumps were related to cancer with one doctor stated saying: “Ninety-nine times out of 100, (this) will be lymphoma.”
After removing a lymph node for analysis though, they discovered no cancer cells, but shit loads of black tattoo ink, which they ultimately linked to a 15-year-old tattoo that covered the woman’s back (her name has not been printed in the report).
In what is now being considered a hypersensitivity to tattoo ink, docs believe the woman’s immune cells reacted to the foreign tattoo ink and slowly pulled some over to her lymph nodes over the space of years.
“The pigment is too large for these cells to eat and digest,” cosmetic dermatologist Dr. Bill Stebbins said. “That’s why they’re still there many years later.”
The woman is gonna be totally fine, with almost no lasting effects from the process however professionals have reminded people set to get tattoos to do their research and make sure the artist in question is reputable.
