Purpose: Infective endocarditis (IE) is a rare but dangerous complication of tattooing and body piercing in adolescents and young adults 15-30 years of age, with and without congenital heart disease (CHD).
About 1–5% of people have tattoo-related bacterial infections (11), which have the potential of being especially dangerous for patients with CHD who are susceptible to endocarditis.
If you were born with a heart condition, we know that you are more likely to get infections of your lungs or airways, or an infection of the lining of the heart (endocarditis). The infections that lead to endocarditis can start when your skin is pierced, like tattoos or piercings.
Bacterial infection is the most common cause of endocarditis. Endocarditis can also be caused by fungi, such as Candida. In some cases, no cause can be found.
Infective endocarditis can follow body piercing involving either mucous membranes or the skin.
Two kinds of bacteria cause most cases of bacterial endocarditis. These are staphylococci (staph) and streptococci (strep). You may be at increased risk for bacterial endocarditis if you have certain heart valve defects.
Due to the increased risk of infection we would advise against body piercing and tattoos.
Signs of an endocarditis infection include: Fever above 100°F (38.4°C). Sweats or chills, particularly night sweats. Skin rash.
Endocarditis occurs most often in adults over age 60. Artificial heart valves. Germs are more likely to attach to an artificial (prosthetic) heart valve than to a regular heart valve. Damaged heart valves.
If you have a medical problem such as heart disease, allergies, diabetes, skin problems like eczema or psoriasis, a weak immune system, or a bleeding problem, talk to your doctor before getting a tattoo. Also, if you get keloids (an overgrowth of scar tissue) you probably should not get a tattoo.
Some people, however, develop infections or allergic reactions in the days, months or even years after getting a tattoo, the AAD says. Watch for symptoms that can suggest a larger problem, including worsening pain; a rash, blisters or bumps on the skin; fever; chills; and pus or fluid coming from the tattoo.
Tattoos and body piercings provide an opening in the skin that may allow germs to enter your body and cause infections. These infections could cause sepsis. It is for this reason that anyone who receives a tattoo or piercing must take special care to reduce the risk of contracting an infection.
Tattoos and complications.
In the preantibiotic era, bacterial complications of tattooing sometimes were severe or even fatal. Today, sepsis after tattooing is extremely rare. It most often is reported after Polynesian or other tribal tattooing with the use of nonconventional needles.
The symptoms of acute bacterial endocarditis (ABE) occur within a few weeks of infection. The symptoms of subacute bacterial endocarditis (SBE) may take weeks or months to develop. Some of the general symptoms of endocarditis can include: Fever and chills.
The symptoms of endocarditis can be hard to notice and unclear, developing slowly over weeks or sometimes months. In some cases, however, they can develop suddenly. The most common symptoms of endocarditis are: flu-like symptoms – these include having a temperature, tiredness, headaches, chills, a cough and sore throat.
Endocarditis often goes undiagnosed because symptoms are vague, mild, or similar to other illnesses. If your doctor suspects endocarditis, they may order blood work to look for signs of disease-causing bacteria. They may also use one or more of the following tests to diagnose you: Transthoracic echocardiography.
This observational study in a large patient population with infective endocarditis, followed up for an average of 7.5 years, documented a high mortality and even greater morbidity: at 10 years of follow up, 50% of patients with infective endocarditis were dead and 85% of them had suffered morbid events such as ...
Infective endocarditis has an incidence rate of 3-10 cases in every 100,000 people.
Those with high blood pressure, as the pain can raise the blood pressure temporarily. 2. The blood sugar level may rise as the tattoo is being done. Those with diabetes should avoid certain areas of their body such as buttocks, and common insulin injection sites including arms, abdomen, thighs, feet and ankles.
With an aneurysm, inflammation in that area would not be good as that represents an area of weakness in the vessel wall and given that you will need ongoing imaging, possibly with an MRI, that can cause an adverse reaction with a tattoo as mentioned in one of the links.