Viral Disease in Tattoos: Verruca Vulgaris

Human papillomavirus type 27 associated with multiple verruca within a tattoo: report of a case and review of the literature

“…4 Unlike our case, most reports seem to be confined to certain colors used in a multicolored tattoo, most commonly the black or dark blue color. [4][5][6][7][8] More recently, facial verruca plana was reported to develop one year after semipermanent tattooing. 9 The latency period, or time to onset of new warts, ranged from two months to 10 years after tattooing.…”

“…Interestingly, relatively few cases of tattoo‐associated verruca vulgaris have been described in the literature, although the first report was published in 1864 4 . Unlike our case, most reports seem to be confined to certain colors used in a multicolored tattoo, most commonly the black or dark blue color 4–8 . More recently, facial verruca plana was reported to develop one year after semipermanent tattooing 9 .…”

IV. Complications from Tattoos

“…Sporadic reports of warts in tattoos have appeared since. Watkins reported one such case of a sailor who developed warts in his “rose tattoo.” But busy dermatologists who see many tattooed patients do not often find this most common viral infection of the skin in tattoos. Of the 7,000 slides in the World of Tattoos Library, only two have warts (Figs.…”

Development of Extensive Flat Warts after Pulsed Dye Laser Treatment of a Port-Wine Stain

“…It was thought that the abrasion therapy had disseminated the virus 6 . There are also several reports of both common and flat warts inoculated during tattoo placement, 7–11 and common warts have also been described following thermal injury to the skin, induced by sunburn over the area of a tattoo, 12 following second‐degree burn, 4 and underneath watchbands which repeatedly slid up and down the forearm, abrading the underlying skin 13…”