TATTOO AND MELANOMA ================= From: ecgomez@ucdavis.edu I'm forwarding this letter from a friend who has a rabbit that was diagnosed with melanoma. She has questions about the link between tattoos and melanoma. I wrote back suggesting that possible the pigment being used in the ear tatoos on thes animals was forming a radical species that is damaging the DNA locally on the ear. (That's about the only thing I could think of...) Anyway, is skin cancer at tattoo sites a known phenomena in humans? Edward C. Gomez MD PhD ============ From: jcp@cts.com (James C. Powers) In this month's Derm Surgery journal there is an article by Grabski et al at Brooke Army Med Center about a melanoma patient who had an ERLND, and some very black nodes were found, initially felt to be mets. Histopath showed tattoo pigment that had ended up in the nodes after a tattoo removal that had been performed some time previously. Seems that the above and rabbit ear melanoma are at best anecdotal, and, if there is any association between tattoos and melanomas, it might be that both are often found in sun exposed areas? James C. Powers, M.D. =================== From: Martin Reichel Remember that heavy metals such as titanium and mercury form "large" collections of darkly staining brown/black pigment to be seen in the dermis. This can be misinterpreted as melanoma. Marty ============== From: Yelva@aol.com I recently had a patient who developed a melanoma in his tattoo. The melanoma was excised in a clever fashion without spoiling the tattoo. Yelva Lynfield