Tattoos can cause infections 15 years after they were drawn, doctors have warned after a woman was admitted to hospital suffering enlarged lymph nodes.

The 30-year-old Australian feared she had cancer after noticing painful lumps in her armpit.

However when doctors at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney removed the tissue it was found to be harmless.

Experts concluded that the lumps were caused by a reaction to tattooing which had been done 15 years previously, and have urged doctors to ask about tattoos when patients are suffering from lymphoma.

Doctors have known for some time that tattoo ink travels to the lymph nodes – which are used by the body to clear out toxins in the body – because the nodes can change to the same colour of the ink. But the new study shows the effect can still happen more than a decade after a person gets a tattoo.