The number of tattooed people is increasing and some complications secondary to tattoos suggest that the lymphatic vascular system might be implicated in their pathogenesis. Abnormalities have been described at the level of the lymph nodes draining the tattooed areas but nothing was reported about the lymphatic vessels under tattoos. This is the aim of the present work.

19 subjects with 20 tattooed skin surfaces were enrolled after written informed consent and the lymphvascular drainage under the tattooed surface was studied using one near infrared camera device after one intradermal injection of Indocyanine Green.

Inclusion Criteria:

• presence of one tattoo at the level of one limb
• written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

1. History of iodine allergy or anaphylactic reactions to insect bites or medication;
2. Hyperthyroidism;
3. Severe cardiac or pulmonary disease;
4. Significant renal failure (creatinine > 400 μmol/l);
5. Pregnancy;
6. any known disease of the skin (such as psoriasis);
7. any disease known to affect the cutaneous tissues (such as diabetes);
8. any previous operation and/or trauma at the level of tattooed limb;
9. familial history of lower limb edemas:
10. skin infection after the tattoo

nineteen subjects (nine women and ten men; mean age = 28.6, range 23-39 years) with tattoos at the level, either of the lower limb (n = 11), or of the upper limb (n = 9) Except in 4 cases, tattoos were older than 2 years (mean = 52.5 months).