Tattoo granuloma: A clinical and demographic survey of patients referred to Razi Hospital in Tehran

Due to new popularity of cosmetic tattoos especially among women and its potential relationship with sarcoidosis، the present study was conducted to evaluate clinical presentation and some demographic data about tattoo granuloma، as part of non-infectious dermatologic granulomas. In this retrospective cross-sectional study، all patients with the histopathological diagnosis of non-infectious granulomatous lesions whom were admitted between at the dermatology clinics at Razi Hospital، Tehran، Iran between March 21، 2007 and March 20، 2012 were included. A total of 1099 patients were included in the study. The commonest form of granuloma was foreign body granuloma in 511 (46. 4%) of the patients and was followed by tattoo granuloma in 102 (9. 2%) of the patients. All patients with tattoo granuloma were females whose ages were from 40 to 60 years. The mean±standard deviation age of the patients was 43±8. 57 years. Twenty-six (25%) of patients with tattoo granuloma showed sarcoidal pattern، and one case (1%) showed caseouse pattern، after histopathological evaluation of biopsy specimens. Majority of the lesions were papular (32. 3%) followed by nodular (24. 5%) lesions. Tattoo granuloma is the second common form of non-infectious granulomas، and in one-quarter of cases has sarcoidal pattern. Considering this finding، it seems reasonable to evaluate these patients for sarcoidosis.