Tattoos: The Literal Picture of Health

by Navya Baranwal '20

Are you feeling a little sick? Let’s check your tattoo! ​

​Lying at the intersection of self-expression and art, tattoos evoke certain ideas and pieces of one’s identity. While tattoos have long belonged in the art arena for several years now, current research is showing that tattoos may have scientific applications--they can tell us about our health. 

​Researchers in Cambridge are currently working to take tattoos to the next level, by focusing on how tattoos can alert someone of his health [1]. The project is called Dermal Abyss and is being spearheaded by researchers from MIT and Harvard Medical School. The d-abyss inserts colorimetric and fluorescent biosensors into the skin which interact and respond to changes in glucose, sodium levels, and pH in the fluids between the cells of the skin tissue [2]. Thus, when there are changes in interstitial body fluid composition, the color of the ink changes. 

 This innovation allows the human skin to become an “interactive display.” The d-abyss tattoo has a large scope for people with diabetes. As sugar levels rise, the biosensor in the tattoo changes from blue to brown. By portraying glucose levels through the tattoo, diabetic people can know when to take their insulin injections or when to adjust their sugar consumption. Instead of taking constant pin-prick blood tests, these people can infer their blood sugar levels based on the color of the tattoo [3]. ​​

​This tattoo can also help dehydrated people, as sodium levels will dictate how much water is in the body. (Higher sodium level = You should drink some water now!) Under UV light, the biosensors will turn bright green when sodium levels rise [4].  The ink also changes color from pink to purple based on pH levels. 

​This ongoing innovation has applications beyond its original goal. Perhaps bio-interfaces and sensors can be used to compile data from body metabolic processes. A data-pool that has information about a person’s bodily fluctuations over vast periods of time can be very valuable when it comes to diagnosing different conditions or simply understanding one’s metabolism. For instance, if a physician wants to find out about the patient’s sodium levels in the morning on a Friday versus the afternoon of a Sunday, they can look at the information stored in the bio-interface.   

​The health-detecting tattoo is not on the market yet. It still has to undergo a lot of testing with animals and then people. Currently, there have been tests on pig skin grafts. Furthermore, there are a lot of unanswered questions. How will the size and pattern intricacies of the tattoo impact the health-monitoring capabilities of the ink? Will sweat or exposure to water influence sodium readings? How does the location of the tattoo change the readings? Then there’s also the notion of displaying your health to the public; is it ethical to have your health accessible for everyone to see?

 There are still a lot of things that researchers need to flesh out with this innovative tattoo. While current tests are mainly based on glucose, sodium, and pH, I think a bio-sensor tattoo can target even more health conditions. I would like to see tattoos that are specific towards hormonal or other imbalances of cellular products like cytokines, which can indicate a whole variety of diseases and disorders, ranging from basic cold sickness all the way to cancer. ​

With time and research, these questions will be answered. Slowly, tattoos, known for being quirky, epic, and beautiful, might even become medical.

​Sources: 

1. Powell, Alvin.  Feeling woozy? Time to check the tattoo. Harvard Gazette [online] 2017 [cited October 10]
2. Vega, Katia, et al. The dermal abyss: interfacing with the skin by tattooing biosensors. ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers. 2017. [cited October 9]
3. Weiner, Sophie. This Tattoo Ink Can Sense How Healthy You Are. Popular Mechanics. Jun 2, 2017. [cited October 9]
4. DermalAbyss Project. MIT. [online] 2017 [cited October 10]