Tattoos can be a wonderful thing. They can be a way to remember something important, a beautiful form of artistic expression, or whatever else you want them to be — but no matter what, they are distinctly you. The beauty of tattoos is that they're completely individualized. But no matter how much you love body art, we can't deny that sometimes it can go very, very wrong. Maybe you got inked in a drunken haze or the artist simply wasn't as talented as you initially thought. People make mistakes. But removing a tattoo? It's expensive, painful, and almost never completely successful. However, that may soon be changing. A Canadian student has invented a tattoo removal cream that is supposed to be painless and very, very cheap.
Most tattoo removal options right now involve lasers that burn off or scar the tattooed skin. And not only that, but you'll be paying A LOT of money to be burned and scarred — guess it really makes you think about just how much you hate your tattoo, right? In any case, student Alec Falkenham may have just changed the whole "lifetime commitment" aspect of getting inked.
According to an interview with The Independent, Falkenham's tattoo removal cream uses a different process than most other treatments. Instead of targeting "normal skin cells," and causing inflammation, Falkenham's cream would actually be anti-inflammatory. The cream targets different skin cells and slowly replaces them, resulting in the gradual fading of the tattoo.
It's unclear just how gradual the process is (would it be worth it if it takes 10 years to disappear?), but one thing is for sure, according to Falkenham: It will be cheap — as in, $4.50 for a 10 x 10 centimeter area of skin cheap. Sounds a little better than dozens of super expensive and super painful laser treatments, right? Definitely.
The product is still going through testing, so who knows just what could happen between now and when (if) it hits the market, but it will certainly be interesting to see how the product develops. So, you know, if you happened to tattoo something like a water color-style portrait of Nelly's face or an ex's name (or maybe a combination of both?), keep an eye out for inexpensive tattoo removal cream at a drugstore near you.
Images: olly/Fotolia
