Safe, simple tattoo removal cream in the works

A topical ointment that would drastically simplify the costly, invasive process of removing a tattoo has been developed in Canada.

The cream kicks the skin's natural healing process into gear -- the very process that's activated from the moment you initially get your tattoo -- according to Alec Falkenham, the PhD candidate in pathology at Dalhousie University who came up with the technology.

Upon being tattooed, the skin's white blood cells, known as macrophages, start to consume the ink.

"Macrophages are known as the big eaters of the immune system," says Falkenham. "They eat foreign material, like tattoo pigment, to protect the surrounding tissue."

They also react to the ink in different ways, one being to transport some of the pigment to the lymph nodes for draining.

While the "transporter" macrophages remove the ink from the area, their "eater" counterparts sink deeper into the skin, become inactive and are what actually forms the tattoo.

They are eventually replaced by new macrophages, which explains why the tattoo loses its sharpness over time.

Falkenham's cream is called Bisphosphonate Liposomal Tattoo Removal (BLTR) and it calls the "transporter" macrophages into action, incentivizing them with the key ingredient in the cream, called liposome.

"When new macrophages come to remove the liposome from cells that once contained pigment, they also take the pigment with them to the lymph nodes, resulting in a fading tattoo," says Falkenham.

Pontential ide effects are limited to the few cells near the tattoo that haven't been pigmented, and the cream is much safer than the current go-to method of laser removal.

Falkenham's technology has already been patented, and Springboard Atlantic and Innovacorp Early Stage Commercialization Fund are helping him bring the project to the consumer market.