Dr. Christel Nielsen

So not everyone who were diagnosed 10 years ago were still alive.

Right.

And in that case, we contacted their next of kin.

I see.

With the main point then of understanding whether the relative had had tattoos or not.

It's nice to get to know your participants in a way.

And some still send me postcards.

I was, you know, in my house.

It was just me.

And I had the data there and I just needed to have a look.

And then there were the preliminary results.

And I just threw myself at the phone and told her that, well, we might actually have something here.

We saw an increased risk of lymphoma among those with tattoos.

Compared to those who did not have tattoos, their risk was 20% increased.

So we're talking about relative risk increases.

So the risk on an individual level is small.

People shouldn't be freaking out.

So what people need to know is, I mean, don't laser tattoos and they evaporate into thin air.

I mean, that's not what happens.

They need to get through the body to get out in the other end, basically.