Time to get the pins on your skin!:Tattoo artists could help reduce skin cancer.
Tattoo artists may have a role to play in reducing cases of advanced skin cancer, researchers say. That's because tattoos can sometimes hide skin cancers , and make it harder for doctors to diagnose these cancers early, according to a new study. The researchers found that tattoo artists typically don't have a standard way of dealing with the moles that they may see on their clients, and contrary to what doctors would recommend, many will tattoo right over a mole if a client requests it. Meanwhile, less than a third of the tattoo artists (29 percent) said they had recommended that a client see a dermatologist for a suspicious skin lesion. "Our study highlights an opportunity for dermatologists to educate tattoo artists about skin cancer, particularly melanoma, to help reduce the incidence of skin cancers hidden in tattoos," the researchers, from the University of Pittsburgh, wrote in the Jan. 18 issue of the journal JAMA Dermatology. Tattoo artists could also be t