Want another reason not to get a tattoo? Researchers at New York University’s Langone Medical Center can give you one: tattoos can itch for years. An NYU news release 
reports that as many as 6 percent of New Yorkers who get “inked†have experienced some form of tattoo-related rash, severe itching, or swelling that lasted longer than four months and, in some cases, for many years. How do they know that? Because they surveyed about 300 people in Central Park, asking them about their bodies’ response to the tats. The study also found as many as 10 percent of tattoed people have some form of short-term complications, including delayed healing, pain, swelling, and infection within weeks of getting tattooed, and that only a third of those who did experience a reaction sought medical advice or help. Most long-lasting complications occurred in skin regions injected with the two most common tattoo ink colors, red and black. Almost half (44 percent) of chronic reactions were to red ink, even though only slightly more than a third (36 percent) had tattoos with red ink. One-third of chronic cases involved black ink, while over 90 percent of tattoos encompass black coloring.