BOSTON:
Scientists at Harvard University have invented a tattoo ink that challenges the
nature of the tattoo as something permanent. The inventors say the new ink, due
on the market early next year, is safe and that the colour is completely
removable.
"I see a lot of
people who've made a mistake with the tattoo," says Rox Anderson, a professor of
dermatology at Harvard who helped pioneer laser tattoo removal at Massachusetts
General Hospital. "And I also see people who simply got some bad artwork, and
it's very hard to remove at
times."
That's partly because
doctors don't know exactly what they're trying to remove. Tattoo ink makers keep
secrets. They're not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, so the inks
can have just about anything in them, including carcinogens. Anderson says the
inks may contain lead, zinc and other heavy metals. It's that long list of
drawbacks that led Anderson and his colleagues to develop a new ink that changes
the very idea of tattoo as a permanent
mark.
The ink is a combination
of dyes and a polymer already approved by the FDA. The polymer is a plastic that
can't be absorbed by the body. The dyes can; they're
biodegradable.
As long as the
dyes are bound to the polymer, the ink is permanent, like regular tattoo ink.
But with a single laser treatment the bond to the polymer is destroyed. The
tattoo disappears as the dyes break down and are absorbed by the body. Anderson
says removal is much faster, easier, and less painful than for a normal tattoo.
That's because removing a normal tattoo requires several laser treatments, at
least one per colour.
Martin
Schmieg, chief executive officer of Freedom-2, the company that's bringing the
technology to market, says the company's goal is to "provide a level of safety
that has previously not existed in the tattoo market, and
a freedom for tattoo wearers
to change their mind."