A medical tattoo is a tattoo used to show the illnesses or allergetic reactions one has. Medical tattoos can be used for a number of reasons:
- As a warning that a patient suffers from a chronic disease that can exacerbate suddenly and that will require immediate specialist treatment. One example is in the case of congenital adrenal hyperplasia, in which patients may need steroid replacement therapy during ordinary illness.
- As an aid in radiotherapy. In order to minimize damage to surrounding tissues, the radiotherapist seeks to keep the irradiated field as small as possible. Marking a number of points on the body with tattoos can aid radiotherapists in adjusting the beam properly.
- During breast reconstruction after mastectomy (removal of the breast for treatment of cancer), or breast reduction surgery. Tattooing is sometimes used to replace the areola which has been removed during mastectomy, or to fill in areas of pigment loss which may occur during breast reduction performed with a free nipple graft technique.
- Similar to dog tags, members of the military have their vital information tattooed to them, usually on the rib cage below the armpit; they are referred to as "meat tags".
Famous quotes containing the word medical:
“There may perhaps be a new generation of doctors horrified by lacerations, infections, women who have douched with kitchen cleanser. What an irony it would be if fanatics continued to kill and yet it was the apathy and silence of the medical profession that most wounded the ability to provide what is, after all, a medical procedure.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)