Space-Age Tattoos Might Help Diabetics

As tattooing become more and more acceptable in mainstream society, ideas for other ways to use tattooing for more than just body art are being invented. It's been suggested that using edible ink, fruit could be tattooed instead of marked with stickers at the grocery store. And dermatologists are working on ways to make new tattoo inks that are more easily removed using a laser for those that want to follow the latest skin fads. However, what just might be the most novel use of a tattoo has just been invented in the US: a tattoo that will let a diabetic patient monitor their blood-sugar levels.

Researchers have been working on ways to help eliminate the need for multiple blood tests per day that some people with diabetes must do in order to monitor their health. Tattoo ink is able to stay in the skin cells and not be absorbed by or pushed out of the body. Scientists have found that tiny microscopic beads can similarly be trapped in the skin layers. When they are, the beads are then in contact with bloodstream, where glucose flows through the body. The beads will change color depending on how much sugar is in the bloodstream.

When a laser light is shone on the beads, they would then be visible, and depending on their color, they would then report the blood-sugar levels to the patient. This would let doctor's make a one-time tattoo on a patient's arm which would leave them with a lifetime monitoring system, replacing the many needle sticks a person has to endure in their fingers several times per day. This would then allow for pain-free testing, something that would benefit many patients worldwide, especially children and the elderly. The two men primarily involved in developing this method are Gerard Cote, a biomedical engineer based at Texas's A&M University, and Michael Pishko, who works in the chemical engineering department of Penn State University.

To learn more about tattooing and medical tattoos, you might like Tattoos - A Medical Dictionary, Bibliography, and Annotated Research Guide to Internet References by Health Publica Icon Health Publications or The Body Art Book: A Complete, Illustrated Guide to Tattoos, Piercings, and Other Body Modification