Getting a tattoo removed is normally costly and painful, but now thanks to some new technology, it seems that might all be a thing of the past.
A researcher at a Canadian university is confident that he has come up with a much better and cheaper way of getting rid of any unwanted tattoos out there, all in the form of a simple cream. Alec Falkenham, a 27-year-old PhD Student at Dalhousie University in Halifax also claims that the cream he's invented to help rid people of their regrettable ink will cost a fraction of what the current procedures do.
Speaking to the CBC, he said that when it was compared to "to laser-based tattoo removal, in which you see the burns, the scarring, the blisters", it actually performed much better as they've "designed a drug that doesn't really have much off-target effect". Rather the cream isn't aimed at the same skin cells that the current removal techniques do, and he argues that you won't see any inflammation as a result, "and it would actually be anti-inflammatory".
The new cream targets the skin by causing it make new 'microphages' (the cells that move to the area during the tattooing process and absorb the ink), eventually causing the tattoo to fade. While not being painful is a definite plus, there's even better news for those out there who want to take that tattoo of their ex's name off their bum cheek: Falknhem reckons that it will only cost about $4.50 (€4) to remove a tattoo from a 10-centimetre by 10-centimetre area.
Via The Independent. Main pic via Micael Faccio/Flickr