I don't think that there has been any concrete research about this, but considering what the disease is and how high risk one already is for things such as chronic pain, fatigue, headaches, seizure, heart attacks, and stroke, I would say that tattoos are definitely not a good idea.

A tattoo would worsen the side effects of the disease. It would make you lose even more blood, and you are low to start with. Less blood mean less oxygen, and in sickle cell you are already not getting enough oxygen in your body. The cause of stroke is a loss of oxygen to the brain.

Not to mention the terrible pain you would do through. The disease already has to be treated in the hospital because some pain episodes are so severe. I can only imagine how much worse I'd be after a tattoo.

I am attaching a link that has a lot of good info. If you read nothing else, go to the complications section and read through that. Then think about how a tattoo would affect those complication and then decide whether you (or whoever else might be thinking about it) really want to do it or not.

How much are you willing to sacrifice and suffer for it? ooooh! i wouldn't reccommend that! Why not?!