Dr Norm Pinsky said he recently treated a 10-year-old girl at Secret Harbour Medical Centre who returned from a family holiday on the Indonesian island with a henna tattoo.
Not only was the skin around the henna irritated, but there was also thick, dark hair growing out of it, he said.
“This is not the first time I have seen this,” Dr Pinsky said.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOW“I’ve had people come in with similar irritations five times over the past few years.
“I believe this was a reaction to a product used in the (henna) dye, so people need to be aware because it does not go away quickly.
“It can take up to a year,” he said.
Dr Pinsky said people planning to go to Bali for a tattoo or other invasive procedure needed to consider the risks.
“This girl is lucky it didn’t happen on her face or other parts of her body that she would have got really upset about,” he said.
“She and her parents were understandably upset.
“It’s a risk wherever you get (a tattoo), but if you’re going to get one in Bali you need to have a good think about it and the risks, products and procedures used.”