A new temporary tattoo that slowly releases medicine may soon help thousands of people who deal with chronic illness like MS on a daily basis.
The tattoo, which fades after a week, allows the drug to remain in the system for longer than if they were simply injected.
According to the Sun, the inking contains nanoparticles which stop white blood cells attacking healthy tissue.
“I can see doing this for a child who wants a tattoo and could never get her parents to go along,” Dr Christine Beeton, of Texas’s Baylor College where the research took place, said.
The results of the study, which was published in Scientific Reports, highlights how T and B lymphocyte cells and macrophages are key components of the immune system.
It is believed the T cell plays a huge roll in illnesses like MS, as they lose their ability to differentiate between foreign and healthy tissue attacking both.
The new drug delivery system will, as Dr Beeton says, allow the drug stay in the system "long enough to be effective, but not so long that, if you have a problem, you can’t remove it.”
Scientists also believe the new drug delivery system could be made into a work of art, rather than a black mark as it delivers medicine into the body.
