Tattooed Skin And Surgical Infection Risk
Category: Spine Surgery | Author: Stefano Sinicropi | Date: July 20, 2026
Roughly 1 in 3 Americans has a tattoo, so it’s pretty common for surgeons to see a patient’s tattoos during the course of prepping the patient for surgery and completing the operation. In some instances, the surgeon may have to cut through a tattooed portion of skin in order to conduct the procedure. While you may be worried how this incision will affect the appearance of your tattoo, there’s also a possibility that cutting through the artwork on your skin could increase your risk of a surgical site infection.
Tattoos And Surgery Infection Rates
To learn more about whether or not surgery performed on tattooed skin was linked to an increased infection likelihood, researchers conducted a retrospective study of 1,578 consecutive spinal procedures in patients performed by a single spine surgeon in France over a period of 10 years. Researchers tracked information about each patient, including demographics, comorbidities, procedure type and the presence of tattoos overlying or within two centimeters of the planned incision site. Patients were then tracked to see if they developed a surgical site infection (SSI) following their spinal procedure.
After looking at the data, researchers found evidence of 64 surgical site infections during the study. What’s most interesting is how these infections developed between the two studied groups:
- A postoperative SSI occurred in 10.2% of tattooed patients.
- A postoperative SSI occurred in 3.6% of non-tattooed patients.
- Pathogens were identified in 93.8% of cases, and Staphylococcus aureus was the most common.
Researchers concluded that patients with tattooed skin at the incision site were nearly three times as likely to develop a surgical site infection following their spinal operation compared to those without tattoos at or near the surgical site.
“Tattooed skin at the operative site was significantly associated with an increased risk of SSI in spine surgery, with a nearly 3-fold increased risk,” researchers wrote. “These findings support consideration of systematic preoperative documentation and individualized perioperative protocols.”
Doctors and surgical teams are always careful about working to keep germs and bacteria away from the incision site, but the presence of a tattoo at or in close proximity to the surgical site may present additional challenges for the care team and the patient. Following strict wound care protocols and ensuring the patient knows how to care for their wound site prior to discharge should help be able to lower the infection rate in patients with an elevated risk for SSIs.
For more information about the process we follow to reduce surgical site infection likelihood, or to set up your first appointment with Dr. Sinicropi and his team, give Midwest Spine & Brain Institute a call today at (651) 430-3800.
