Can tattoos prevent cancer?
Sep 18, 2025, 10:56 AM | Updated: 11:02 am
A new study at the University of Utah has a theory that tattoos may help prevent cancer, instead of causing it. (Canva)
(Canva)
SALT LAKE CITY — A tattoo a day keeps the doctor away, or at least skin cancer, and researchers aren’t sure why.
You don’t need to be covered in tattoos, but if you have more than one, researchers at the University of Utah say there’s a lower chance of getting skin cancer.
The team gathered 7,000 Utahns for its study and found having two or more tattoos decreased the risk of two types of melanoma: Invasive melanoma and in situ, which means the cancer stays on the surface of the skin and can be removed quickly.
However, someone with only one tattoo actually has a greater risk of cancer. Lead scientist Jennifer Doherty at the Huntsman Cancer Institute says researchers aren’t sure why this is, but would like to study it further.
Doherty was surprised by the results, assuming more tattoos would mean a greater risk for cancer when the study first started.
“Tattoos are increasingly common, and it’s an understudied form of environmental exposure, especially in young people. We really need to understand how tattoos could impact risk for different types of cancer,” Doherty stated in a news release from the cancer institute. “For melanoma, the results seem to be mixed. But we see people with two, three, and four tattoo sessions having decreasing risk, and that’s a stronger pattern than the increased risk with just one session.”
Doherty says she wouldn’t recommend rushing to the tattoo shop because researchers don’t know if it’s the tattoos, lifestyle choices, or an immune system response that is decreasing the risk of cancer and they will need to look further into the theory.
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