BfR Annual Report 2015

BfR

Annual Report 2015

Tattoo removal using laser treatment:

release of benzene and hydrogen cyanide

Tattoos largely consist of mainly insoluble pigments that

are permanently inserted into the lower layer of the skin

(dermis). These pigments consist predominantly of col-

oured inorganic substances like chromium or iron oxides,

carbon black or white titanium dioxide. However, mod-

ern tattoos with particularly intensive colours generally

consist of organic pigments with hugely varying colour

tones. Human health risk assessment of tattoo inks and

their ingredients is a great challenge, as unlike cosmetic

agents tattoo inks are not applied topically but penetrate

the skin barrier directly and therefore enter the body

straight away.

Product safety is an important aim of consumer protection and involves questions such as: can a toy

or cosmetic product pose a health risk? In answering these questions, the Chemical and Product Safety

department examines not only the substances used, but also the release of these substances. This

is because the issue of whether a health risk exists for a particular product depends first and foremost

on how consumers come into contact with the substances it contains. The department includes the

BfR-Committees for Commodities and Cosmetics as well as the National Reference Laboratory for

Food Contact Materials.

Product Safety

Laser removal of tattoos represents a source of hazard

that has not been adequately researched up-to-date.

Parallel to the increased popularity of tattoos, more and

more people want to remove their tattoos due to various

reasons. Lasers with nanosecond or picosecond pulses

are generally used for tattoo removal. Hereby, light puls-

es are absorbed by the tattoo pigment based on their

wavelengths and lead to heat-driven fragmentation di-

rectly within the skin. Additionally, the formation of gases

creates cavities, which in turn leads to light refraction – a

phenomenon that is visible for several minutes due to the

white coloration of the skin (so-called “whitening”). Also

the incorrect use of the laser can result in scarring, pig-

mentation abnormalities and damage to the eyes. Very

often a complete removal of the tattoo is not possible, es-

pecially when white, yellow, red or orange colours were

used. A further unpleasant symptom is the darkening of

brighter tattoos. Finally, reports in the literature cite aller-

gies occurring in the aftermath of laser removal.

Another significant potential problem is the decomposi-

tion of the organic pigments occurring during the laser

removal treatment. Short-term heating of a pigment par-

ticle to a temperature of several hundred degrees Cel-

sius causes the pigment molecule to break down into

smaller chemical sub-structures, by breaking up one or

several chemical bonds. It was demonstrated in the lit-

erature that carcinogenic primary aromatic amines are

released from some red and yellow azo pigments as well

as from a violet quinacridone pigment during the break-

down process. Scientists at the BfR have now proved for

the first time that the only blue pigments currently used in

tattoo inks – copper phthalocyanine, which is also known

as phthalocyanine blue or pigment B15:3 – can release

When removing tattoos with a laser, heat-induced gases are

produced in the skin which become visible as the so-called

“whitening” effect.