London, Feb 15: A topical cream that will “fade” away tattoos without the excruciating pain is being developed.
Smart Alec Falkenham of Dalhousie University said that the magic potion will be a cheaper and painless alternative to the current laser-based tat removal option, the Daily Star reported.
The 27-year-old PhD student said that when comparing it to laser-based tattoo removal, in which people see the burns, the scarring, the blisters, they’ve designed a drug that doesn’t really have much off-target effect.
Falkenham added that they’re not targeting any of the normal skin cells so there won’t be a lot of inflammation, in fact based on the process that they’re actually using, they don’t think there will be any inflammation at all and it would actually be anti-inflammatory.
When ink is injected into the skin it starts an immune response and cells called macrophages move into the area and “eat up” the ink.
Falkenham noted that the cream will work its magic by targeting the stubborn macrophages that have stayed.
