Tattooed skin
From a man aged 79 years who had earned his living for many years as the Tattooed Man in a circus. His entire body, except for the head and neck, the hands and soles of his feet, was covered with elaborate and intricate tattooed designs. He died of peritonitis due to perforation of an anastomotic ulcer. Pieces of skin tattooed with butterflies and flying fish, using three different colours. Comment; In tattooing, fine particles of pigment are introduced through the skin, are taken up by histiocytes and become lodged in the tissue spaces of the dermis. Pigment also passes to the regional lymph glands via the lymphatics. In this case, all the superficial lymph nodes were heavily pigmented.

Royal Free Hospital

LDUCPC-RFH.Z6

Z6

UCL Pathology Collections