Scientists develop tool that draws painless tattoos

With the advancement of technology comes the ease of doing things hitherto found to be painstaking 

Getting tattoos has for  ages been a very painful affair going by the account of those who have gone through the experience. 

It takes hours of pain endurance as the microscopic magnum needle raves and packs large amounts of ink into the skin to achieve your desired pattern. 

But this painful experience may no longer be a worry to mankind thanks to researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The scientists have developed a low-cost, painless and bloodless shading gadget that can be self-administered.

"While some people are willing to accept the pain and time required for a tattoo to heal, we thought others might prefer a tattoo that is simply pressed onto the skin and does not hurt," Mark Prausnitz, an aurthor of the study said.

The technology can also be used to inject microchips for tracking neutered animals to cosmetic procedures and medical processes.

Besides enhancing the body's aesthetic outlook, tattoos are used in medicine to cover up scars, guide repeated cancer radiation treatments or restore nipples after breast surgery.

"We've miniaturized the needle so that it's painless, but still effectively deposits tattoo ink in the skin,"Prausnitz said.

"This could be a way not only to make medical tattoos more accessible, but also to create new opportunities for cosmetic tattoos because of the ease of administration," he added.

The study was published in the journal iScience.

Tattoos can also be used instead of bracelets as medical alerts to communicate serious medical conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy, or allergies.

The new microneedle tattoo technology is new as far as beauty is concerned although it has been in use in the medical world.

Prausnitz said he has studied microneedle patches for years to painlessly administer drugs and vaccines to the skin without the need for hypodermic needles.

"We saw this as an opportunity to leverage our work on microneedle technology to make tattoos more accessible," Prausnitz said.

How it works

Tatooing typically uses large needles to puncture repeatedly into the skin to get a good image. A process that is not only time consuming, but painful.

"Because the microneedles are made of tattoo ink, they deposit the ink in the skin very efficiently," said Li, co-author of the study.

In this way, the microneedles can be pressed into the skin just once and then dissolve, leaving the ink in the skin after a few minutes without bleeding.

Here, they begin by creating a mold containing microneedles in a pattern that forms an image.

They fill the microneedles in the mold with tattoo ink and add a patch backing for convenient handling.

The resulting patch is then applied to the skin for a few minutes, during which time the microneedles dissolve and release the tattoo ink.

Various colors can be incorporated into the microneedles, including black-light ink that can only be seen when illuminated with ultraviolet light.

Rather than clipping the ear or applying an ear tag to animals to indicate sterilisation status, a painless and discreet tattoo can be applied instead.

"The goal isn't to replace all tattoos, which are often works of beauty created by tattoo artists," Prausnitz said.

"Our goal is to create new opportunities for patients, pets, and people who want a painless tattoo that can be easily administered."