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Alec Falkenham, a 27 year old PhD student of Dalhousie University, Canada has come up with a approach that makes use of natural healing, while getting rid of tattoos painlessly.

According to a news the technology the PhD student is using is called Bisphosphonate Liposomal Tattoo Removal (BLTR). It targets the ‘macrophages’ that contain the pigment for removal. Falkenham believes that the BLTR technology is much safer than the current tattoo removal process as it limits the potential side effects of the process.

‘Macrophages are known as the big eaters of the immune system,’ Mr Falkenham explained.

‘They eat foreign material, like tattoo pigment, to protect the surrounding tissue.’

Overtimes, the macrophages that formed the tattoo are replaced  by new macrophages, causing the body art to blur and fade. There is no need for injections or painful inflammation, and gradually the tattoo fades, he said.

Mr Falkenham said “When comparing it to laser-based tattoo removal, in which you see the burns, the scarring, the blisters, in this case, we've designed a drug that doesn't really have much off-target effect.”

-Smrutirekha