Red tattoo ink triggered total hair loss in one man. And it stopped him from sweating.

 

 

 

Red tattoo ink triggered total hair loss in one man.

And it stopped him from sweating.

A man in Poland experienced a rare and extreme reaction to the red ink in a new tattoo on his forearm, leading to total hair loss, destruction of his sweat glands, and the development of vitiligo.

Several months after receiving a large multicoloured tattoo, he developed intense itching and a widespread rash, followed by loss of all hair on his head and body, yellowing of his nails, swollen lymph nodes, and an inability to sweat. Over two years, he also developed large light patches of skin. Multiple specialists were unable to identify the cause until doctors noticed that the red areas of the tattoo were swollen. A lymph node biopsy revealed traces of red ink that had migrated from the skin, strongly suggesting an allergic reaction to that pigment. The man had a pre-existing autoimmune condition, Hashimoto’s disease, which may have made his immune system particularly prone to attacking his own skin and glands.

To control the reaction, surgeons removed the red-inked parts of the tattoo in eight separate operations and replaced them with skin grafts. After this, his hair grew back and his vitiligo stopped worsening, but the damage to his sweat glands was permanent, leaving him unable to sweat and at ongoing risk of heat stroke, which forced him to leave his military job and regularly cool his body with water sprays. This case highlights growing concerns about the safety of some modern coloured tattoo inks, many of which contain synthetic dyes originally designed for car paints and printer inks rather than human skin.

References (APA style)

Klein, A. (2026, January . Red tattoo ink causes man to lose all his hair and stop sweating. New Scientist.

Krasowska, D., Chodorowska, G., Sobolewski, P., Kulus, M., Dopytalska, K., Pietrzak, A., & Schmelzer, C. E. H. (2025). Lichenoid tattoo reaction and systemic autoimmune syndrome following red tattoo: A case report. Clinics and Practice, 15(12), 2243–2253.