Microneedle Tattoo Technique: Painless and Fast

Painless, bloodless tattoos have been created by scientists, who say the technique could have medical and cosmetic applications.

The technique, which can be self-administered, uses microneedles to imprint a design into the skin without causing pain or bleeding. Initial applications are likely to be medical – but the team behind the innovation hope that it could also be used in tattoo parlours to provide a more comfortable option.

“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,” said Prof Mark Prausnitz, who led the work at Georgia Institute of Technology. “While some people are willing to accept the pain and time required for a tattoo, we thought others might prefer a tattoo that is simply pressed on to the skin and does not hurt.” (...)

Tattoos typically use large needles to puncture the skin between 50 and 3,000 times a minute to deposit ink below the surface, a time-consuming and painful process. The Georgia Tech team has developed microneedles made of tattoo ink encased in a dissolvable matrix. By arranging the microneedles in a specific pattern, each one acts like a pixel to create a tattoo image in any shape or pattern, and a variety of colours can be used.

by Hannah Devlin, The Guardian |  Read more:

Image: Georgia Institute of Technology