Depending on your pain tolerance, getting a tattoo can be an uncomfortable experience, but a new technology developed by scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology could change that.
A team led by chemical engineer Mark Prausnitz has created a low-cost skin patch containing needles smaller than a grain of sand. Each of the so-called “micronids” acts as a pixel and can be arranged in different patterns. Each one is filled with color before pressing it on the skin once to transfer the design, without any pain or bleeding. The process can be managed by itself.
While the patch could clearly provide a welcome breakthrough for those who want to get cosmetic tattoos but are currently put off by the pain, the team actually began its research with another group: medical patients.
“We’ve made the needle painless, but we still put the tattoo ink in the skin,” Prausnitz said in an article about the new patch, making medical tattooing more accessible because of its ease of administration. .
Medical tattoos can be used to cover scars, guide repeat cancer radiation treatments, and restore nipples after breast surgery. They can also replace the bracelets to act as health monitors, alerting doctors to serious conditions like diabetes, epilepsy or allergies.
Prausnitz’s team has long been studying microneedles for vaccine delivery, and animal organizations have begun working on using tattoos to help identify spayed and neutered pets. But it is the suitability of cosmetic tattoos that is gaining more attention.
“We saw this as an opportunity to use our work on microneedle technology to make tattooing more accessible,” Prausnitz said. “We thought that while some people are willing to accept the pain and time required to get a tattoo, others prefer a tattoo that is simply pressed on the skin and doesn’t hurt.”
Tattoo artists don’t have to worry about taking their work as they seem to focus on small and simple designs that require a lot of skill and time.
Prausnitz makes a similar point: “The goal is not to replace all tattoos, which are often aesthetic works created by tattoo artists.” “Our goal is to create new opportunities for patients, pets and people looking for an easily treatable, painless tattoo.”
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