Journal of

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Background and Aim: Due to new popularity of cosmetic tattoos especially among women and its potential relationship with sarcoidosis, the present study was conducted to evaluate clinical presentation and some demographic data about tattoo granuloma, as part of non-infectious dermatologic granulomas. Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, all patients with the histopathological diagnosis of non-infectious granulomatous lesions whom were admitted between at the dermatology clinics at Razi Hospital, Tehran, Iran between March 21, 2007 and March 20, 2012 were included. Results: A total of 1099 patients were included in the study. The commonest form of granuloma was foreign body granuloma in 511 (46.4%) of the patients and was followed by tattoo granuloma in 102 (9.2%) of the patients. All patients with tattoo granuloma were females whose ages were from 40 to 60 years. The mean±standard deviation age of the patients was 43±8.57 years. Twenty-six (25%) of patients with tattoo granuloma showed sarcoidal pattern, and one case (1%) showed caseouse pattern, after histopathological evaluation of biopsy specimens. Majority of the lesions were papular (32.3%) followed by nodular (24.5%) lesions. Conclusion: Tattoo granuloma is the second common form of non-infectious granulomas, and in one-quarter of cases has sarcoidal pattern. Considering this finding, it seems reasonable to evaluate these patients for sarcoidosis.

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Background and Aim: One of the most important pathologies of tattooing is granulomatous reaction to the tattoo which is usually represented by symptoms like pain, inflation, redness and tenderness at the tattoo area. Granulomatous reaction to tattoo occurs at all ages and has been seen among both male and female. Due to the new rise in popularity of cosmetic tattoos and its pathologies, we intend to explore a descriptive study of the demographic and histopathologic characteristics of the granulomatous reactions due to cosmetic tattoos.
 

Methods: Razi hospital patients with proven tattoo granuloma pathology in a 3-year period were identified and studied and their demographic-histological characteristics were recorded. The study is of a cross-sectional type. 196 patients were enrolled in the study, a questionnaire was prepared for each patient and information was collected through them. 
 

Results: The mean ± standard deviation age of the patients was 45.46±8.54. The mean ± standard deviation tattoo time was 4.18±4.33. The mean ± standard deviation frequency of tattooing was 1.64±1.8. The most common tattoo area was eyebrow in 88.3% of the patients and least common was upper eyelid in 0.6%. The most common pathology result was tattoo granuloma in 41.7% of the patients and the least common was Lichenoid in 2.8%.
 

Conclusion: Considering the highest frequency of pathological diagnosis of tattoo-granuloma (Sarcoidal and foreign body) with 41.7% in our study and observing the relationship between tattoo-granuloma and sarcoidosis in previous studies, complete examination of patients, long-term follow-up of patients which will have sarcoidosis in the future and examining the clinical response to treatment seems logical and beneficial. It is also important to consider whether the treatment of current lesions will play a role in preventing sarcoidosis in the future or not.