In what they believe to be the first survey of its kind in the United States, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have found that as many as 6 percent of adult New Yorkers who get “inked” — in other words, those who get a tattoo — 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.

“We were rather alarmed at the high rate of reported chronic complications tied to getting a tattoo,” says senior study investigator and NYU Langone dermatologist Marie Leger, MD, PhD, whose team’s latest findings appear in the journal Contact Dermatitis online May 27.

“Given the growing popularity of tattoos,” says Leger, an assistant professor in NYU Langone’s Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, “physicians, public health officials, and consumers need to be aware of the risks involved.”

Leger says some adverse skin reactions are treatable with anti-inflammatory steroid drugs, but others may require laser surgery. For stronger reactions, surgery is sometimes necessary to remove tattooed areas of the skin or built-up scar tissue and granular skin lesions, which can rise several millimeters on the skin and cause considerable itching and emotional distress.

According to Leger, an estimated one in five adult Americans now has at least one tattoo.