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Getting a tattoo is not a decision to rush into without thinking things through. After all, it’s no walk in the park to get ink out of your skin after you’ve had it injected by way of thousands upon thousands of needle punctures. At least it isn’t easy right now. PhD student Alec Falkenham at Dalhousie University is working on a cream that he thinks will be able to remove an ill conceived tattoo without further abusing your skin.

When the cream is applied to a tattoo, the active compounds absorb into the skin where they encounter the macrophages left over from the tattooing process. Just as the macrophages originally consumed the ink particles, they will pick up the newly arrived particles and sign their own death warrant. The macrophages die and a new wave of macrophages spring into action to remove the debris. Falkenham believes that after enough applications, the ink from the original tattoo could be mostly cleared. Early estimates suggest weekly applications for a few months, but lasers aren’t particularly fast either.

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