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Mangesh
Pens and Needles: New Disappearing Ink Tattoos!
by Mangesh - April 27, 2006 - 7:39 AM

For all you folks who identify with that old Shakespeare chestnut, “Hell hath no fury like an overprotective mother discovering a tattoo on her kid’s arm (or worseth still, lower back),” stop yer worrying. There’s a new type of semi-permanent tattoo hitting the market that might just be the semi-rebellious rush you’ve been looking for. Created by the brilliant folks at Mass. General, these “smart tattoos” can be erased with a single, non-scarring laser treatment.

The process is actually pretty ingenious: the ink is encapsulated in tiny polymer beads measuring just 1-3 micrometers in diameter. The tattoos come out looking great, meaning that, unlike say a henna tattoo, it won’t induce sneers from the other bikers in your gang. But when you finally decide that you don’t really need that dolphin on your ankle, or the Chinese symbol for “trite” on your left shoulder, a laser treatment will slice the microbeads open, releasing the FDA-approved dye into your skin where it quickly (and more importantly, safely!) fades away.

eintattoo.jpg(<– This is the tattoo my overprotective parental unit refused to let me get.)

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Comments (4)

  1. My gorgeous, pure-as-the-driven-snow best friend just got a tattoo which she’s probably going to start regretting, oh, about three seconds from now; I sure wish she’d known about these. Can they erase just part of the tattoo? Like, if you get “I love Leopold” printed on your arm, and then you break up with Leopold, can you keep the “I love” and replace “Leopold” with “Engelbert?”

    posted by Mary on 4-27-2006 at 7:47 am

  2. Yeah, I imagine so… it’s really a very clever idea. I imagine it’ll do wonders for the tattoo parlor industry.

    posted by Mangesh on 4-27-2006 at 7:58 am

  3. On the other hand, I wonder if this will end up creating the same dynamic that “covenant marriages” did: If you get the less-permanent kind, people question your authenticity. It may just make permanent tattoos seem even more hardcore than they already are.

    posted by Mary on 4-27-2006 at 8:03 am

  4. Im in Charlotte NC WHERE IS SOMEWHERE HERE THAT DOES SEMI-PERMANENT TATTOOS??? Any info would be appreciated!

    posted by AMBER on 10-10-2006 at 10:27 pm

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