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Macrophage immune cells in the skin can capture pigments from tattoos and hold them in place, causing tattoos to persist even after new macrophages move in to deal with the contaminants:
[...] That's what French scientists observed from studying tatted mice. In their model of tattoo persistence [open, DOI: 10.1084/jem.20171608] [DX], published Tuesday in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, macrophages — immune cells that ingest foreign or unhealthy debris in the body — play a starring role. Targeting these cells, the authors suggested, might help improve tattoo removal procedures for people.
As a tattoo is given, macrophages descend to capture invading ink. Probably because the ink granules are too bulky for the microscopic Pac-Mans to break down, they hold onto the pigment, your body art shining through their bellies.
With time, these original macrophages die and release their pigments, which get vacuumed up by new macrophages, starting the cycle over, said Sandrine Henri, a researcher at the Immunology Center of Marseille-Luminy who led the study with her colleague Bernard Malissen.
[...] Jared Jagdeo, a dermatologist at the University of California, Davis, has also wondered whether macrophages impede tattoo removal by reabsorbing lasered ink particles. Since 2014, he has performed a laser removal procedure that uses anti-inflammatory ointment to suppress macrophages. "It makes a difference," he said, noting that he often removes tattoos in 10 or fewer treatments [instead of 20].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @11:36PM
My 21 year old niece has a tattoo.
She doesn't smoke
She's not much of a drinker
She is a pothead
She doesn't do even worse drugs
She doesn't has an STD
She's not obese
She doesn't do the infidelity/cheater thing
She's in graduate school at the moment
She has no criminal record
She has many plans/goals for the future and is working hard to achieve them
She doesn't have a lot of savings/assets, but she's a grad student. That's par for the course at her age
She doesn't have much income, but she's a grad student. That's par for the course at her age
She doesn't have debt problems
She has a loving family to whom she is very close. And a great extended family who is happy to help her any way they can, but we don't really need to because she's bright and successful all on her own.
My niece will make someone a wonderful wife (should she choose to marry. Women aren't just baby factories -- they're fully human with agency and the same right to live their lives as they wish, like any man) someday, and will be a great, loving mother (again, if she chooses to have children) too.
Times have changed, AC. The fat 50 year old you meet in a bar that's half in the bag and has stretched out tattoos is from a different generation. Back in the day, tattoos were considered to be the province of the low-lifes and criminals. Things are different now.
Sticking your dick in crazy can be lots of fun! It's just important to protect yourself if you do. You don't have much imagination, do you? More's the pity.
Then again, your pastor (who is a good friend and mentor, isn't he?) encourages your narrow world view, doesn't he? Is Jesus Christ yo' nigga? [youtube.com]