SALT LAKE CITY — For years, tattoos have been a form of self-expression, but now researchers with the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah believe they have found a surprising health benefit: reduced skin cancer risk.

The researchers say that people with more than one tattoo session may have a decreased risk of the skin cancer melanoma, with one key cut out.

The team, led by Jennifer Doherty, the co-leader of the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Program, evaluated 7,000 Utahns. They found that those that have had 2 or more tattoo sessions decreased in risk of both invasive and in situ melanoma.

In situ melanoma means that the cancer cells remain on the skin's surface and are more easily removed.

However, researchers found that the participants with only one tatt

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