title: Tattooing: medical uses and problems.
abstract: Decorative tattooing is a custom thousands of years old and is growing in popularity today. Medical professionals may be less familiar with its medical applications-medical alert tattooing, reconstructive and cosmetic applications, endoscopic tattooing, corneal tattooing, tattooing in radiation oncology, and uses in forensic medicine. We review current medically related tattooing applications and discuss their potential risks and benefits.
authors.affiliation: University of California, Irvine, Department of Family Medicine, Irvine, CA 92129, USA. glassyc@gmail.com
authors.forename: Crystal M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Glassy
authors.forename: Matthew S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Glassy
authors.forename: Saleh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aldasouqi
mesh_terms: D016223:Advance Directives; D001788:Blood Grouping and Crossmatching; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000009:adverse effects; D003357:Cosmetic Techniques; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D050316:Medical Order Entry Systems; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D013653:Tattooing / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D014019:Tissue Donors
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents