Why doesn't a tattoo grow out after a month or two?
Asked by
LuckyGuy (
43867
)
December 13th, 2015
(I’m not getting one. I’m just curious.)
When I get a wood splinter or sliver of metal in my skin the particle grows out in few days. I once had a cut closed with cyanoacrylate and the bond slowly moved to the surface of my skin until it fell off in about a week.
Why doesn’t a tattoo do the same thing?
The cells in our body have a finite life. Skin cells supposedly live about 3 weeks. Why aren’t the ink-stained ones replaced and pushed out?
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9 Answers
The ink is injected deep into the skin into the dermis not the epidermis which is the top layer which renews itself quickly.
It says the tattoo goes in the dermis layer not the epidermis. I thought all cells (except brain and nerve cells) renewed themselves: red blood cells in about 4 months, while blood cells in about a year, etc. I can understand the tat lasting “forever” if the ink is leached into nerve cells but in the dermis? Really? It doesn’t regenerate? That seems like a risky evolutionary trait.
Almost as risky as using one sausage shaped protuberance for two critical subsystems: waste elimination and reproduction. Where’s the backup plan, Stan?
The same way your capillaries don’t come out of your skin.
The dermis regenerates, cell by cell, underneath the epidermis. The dead cells are consumed by macrophages, which are a type of white blood cell. The dermis doesn’t cycle through and become the epidermis at any point. They are different layers with different functions. The dermis just doesn’t grow back after it’s damaged (which is why stretch marks suck so much…)
If it makes you feel any better, @LuckyGuy, I had a small stick embedded in the palm of my left hand. Long enough that I broke it into 2 pieces trying to squeeze it out. ½”+ in length and 1/8” wide at least. By the time I asked a doctor about it, it was too late to remove.
After I read your question, I checked, and, yup, the wood is completely gone from my skin.
We scar. Burns are bad and leave serious damage behind. If only we were like the mighty axolotl.
@ibstubro So which way do you think the stick moved – did it come out… or go in? (Shudder.)
@cazzie. Now you’ve taught me about axolotl! I want some for my pond! .
The stick did not come out. Exit. @LuckyGuy It was absorbed. Metabolized.
I checked closer tonight, and if I get just the right section of skin in just the right way, there is still one tiny knot that will rock. Maybe ⅓ of the original ½”. I squeezed it and there was no pain beyond pinching.
I’m trying to remember the injury, specifically, but I can’t.
Guessing at least 5 years ago. Under 10?
I’ll worry it.
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