The FDA is notifying health professionals and their patients of the voluntary recall of White and Blue-branded tattoo inks and needles due to confirmed bacterial contamination in unopened bottles of inks and on needles included in tattoo kits. The FDA is concerned that consumers are continuing to use contaminated inks for tattoos. Similarly packaged tattoo products remain available online and may be marketed by other distributors from the same manufacturer.

Injecting contaminated ink into the skin or using contaminated needles may result in infections at the site of the tattoo that can spread throughout the body through blood. Symptoms of illness include redness, swelling, itching, or blemishes in the tattoo, or pain in the tattoo that does not go away.These infections can be severe and require extensive treatment with antibiotics, hospitalization, or surgery. Sepsis, a potentially life-threatening body-wide infection of the blood, may result. Once the infection has healed, the area may remain permanently scarred. Anyone receiving a tattoo is at risk for infection, but particularly vulnerable are those with pre-existing heart or circulatory disease, diabetes, or patients with compromised immune systems.

RECOMMENDATION: The FDA is warning consumers not to use tattoo inks and tattoo kits that have been recalled or that have similar packaging to those that have been recalled. Consumers who purchase tattoo inks or who seek tattooing should examine the ink bottles and determine whether the inks and/or kits are part of the recall.

Read more at The FDA.