MRI and Tattoos - Tattoo Forum

November 15, 2011 at 11:07 am #38005

Participant

@bluey

I had to go for an MRI. One the questionnaire do you have tattoos?
I was told they may get hot and I was quizzed numerous times if I had my eyelids tattooed. I assume they are concerned about heating close to the eye.
As it was my knee and I don’t have any tattoos on my legs (yet) I was only shoved halfway into the machine there was no effect.

Has anyone else come across this?

November 15, 2011 at 11:42 am #116076

mrchen

Participant

@mrchen

very rarely a tattoo may swell and burn during a magnetic resonance imaging…..nothing we can do about it, depends on the contents of the ink that is in our skin………a risk we take, never had a problem myself Im covered (but also high quality inks)

November 15, 2011 at 11:45 am #116078

anonymous

Participant

@anonymous

I haven’t had to go for an MRI, but the concerns about MRIs and tattoos are pretty well known.

Quote:

MRI complications. Rarely, tattoos or permanent makeup may cause swelling or burning in the affected areas during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exams. In some cases — such as when a person with permanent eyeliner has an MRI of the eye — tattoo pigments may interfere with the quality of the image.

Source

Iron oxide in certain inks seems to be the issue. Read more …

November 17, 2011 at 12:57 am #116183

Knitrocks

Participant

@knitrocks

Mythbusters tested this in an episode. They did not get any reaction with normal tattoo-ink, so they added extra iron to it and tatooed pig skin. Still no reaction. So they concluded that is is a myth. And the mythbusters are always right, right?

November 17, 2011 at 1:12 am #116185

anonymous

Participant

@anonymous

Knitrocks;101220 wrote:

Actually, they did find a slight reaction. 🙂

Quote:

There has been concern expressed about the interaction between magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures and tattoo pigments, some of which contain trace metals. Allegedly, the magnetic fields produced by MRI machines could interact with these metal particles, potentially causing burns or distortions in the image. The television show MythBusters tested the hypothesis, and found a slight interaction between commonly used tattoo inks and MRI. The interaction was stronger with inks containing high levels of iron oxide

All tattoo inks contain some heavy metals, but the junk brands certainly contain more, so I imagine you would have more issues with those. Also, all tattoo inks contain less heavy metals than they did years ago, so I imagine that plays a role as well.

November 17, 2011 at 6:32 am #116200