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In decorative tattooing, pigment is introduced into the skin with needles or a tattoo gun to create a picture, motif or symbol. Various skin reactions have been reported in association with tattoos. These include acute inflammatory reactions, eczematous hypersensitivity reactions, pseudolymphomatous reactions and skin infections. We present a 24-year-old Malay man who developed multiple epidermal cysts a month after tattooing. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case in the literature of epidermal cysts occurring after skin tattooing.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection, though most commonly seen in the oral, perioral and genital areas, can occur anywhere on the body. After primary infection, HSV then establishes latency in sensory nerve ganglia and reactivates intermittently, precipitated by various factors. These reactivations may be recurrent and appear in a dermatomal distribution, mimicking herpes zoster, often leading to misdiagnosis if no confirmatory laboratory tests are carried out. We report a 65-year-old man who presented with recurrent episodes of a "zosteriform eruption", who was initially clinically diagnosed and treated as for recurrent herpes zoster, but was subsequently found to have recurrent herpes simplex virus type 2 after laboratory investigations.