Tattoos for Diabetics

A recent development in the medical world has found a way to use tattoos to help diabetics monitor their blood sugar. People suffering with diabetes have to constantly be pricking their skin to test their blood throughout the day. A professor of pharmaceutical sciences at Northeastern University in Boston developed the tattoo monitor to help make life easier for the twenty-six million Americans that currently live with the disease.

The tattoo is only a few millimeters in size and is made up of nanosensors. These are tiny polymer beads that change color depending on the person’s glucose level. Unfortunately, the tattoo has to be applied weekly but it’s still better than sticking your finger multiple times a day to get a reading. The tattoo does not go as deep as professionally applied tats so it doesn’t hurt as much. It’s has to be applied to the 1^st layer of skin to work correctly and it fades after about a week.

The patient just has to scan the tattoo with a handheld device to check the color of the beads. That’ll let them know what their blood sugar reading is.

The worst part is it has to go through about a decade of clinical trials before most diabetics will be able to use the tool. Seems kind of ridiculous for a non-narcotic treatment that can help so many people now.