Regret That Name Tattoo No More: PhD Student Creates Tattoo Removal Cream That Is Painless, Cheap, And Leaves No Scars

Many people get tattoos that they later end up regretting and want them removed. They can either have them covered up with something larger or have them removed by a laser which is painful, expensive, and can cause severe scarring. Now, a PhD student has created a cream that will be painless, cheap, and will leave no scars when removing your tattoo.

A PhD student named Alex Falkenham, who is a pathology researcher at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, is developing the cream, per Gizmodo. The cream he is working on will require nothing more than moisturizing and is able to remove tattoos on and in your skin.

It’s not yet ready for commercial use as the 27-year-old is still tinkering with the formula, but it works quite simply. Using the tattoo removal cream will essentially make the tattoo ink eventually fade away.

“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.”

“We’re not targeting any of the normal skin cells, so you won’t see a lot of inflammation. In fact, based on the process that we’re actually using, we don’t think there will be any inflammation at all and it would actually be anti-inflammatory.”

Right now, Falkenham is testing the cream on tattooed pigs, and not humans. The Independent reports that there is no set time on how long it would take to officially remove a tattoo from human skin.

While laser tattoo removal can be extremely expensive, one would think that the cream would be pricey to purchase as well.

Since Falkenham isn’t yet sure how many applications of the tattoo removal cream it will take, it still shouldn’t be expensive. He estimates that it will cost four cents per square-centimeter or around $4.50 for a 10-centimeter by 10-centimeter area.

Even if a month of applications will be needed, that will still be much less than laser tattoo removal. Each treatment session with the laser will cost somewhere between $75 and $300 depending on the doctor and also size of the tattoo. Throw on top of that, the fact that multiple treatments are needed and the average is five to 10.

The current tattoo removal creams on the market right now are rather worthless as none have been approved by the FDA. The Mayo Clinic says it may lighten the tattoos, but it won’t fully remove them and some are known to cause a rash.

This new version of a tattoo removal cream appears as if it will actually work and Alex Falkenham may have truly stumbled onto something. Now, you won’t have to worry about having the dancing shark or name of your ex- on your body for life.

[Images via Gizmodo/ Danyemachines]