It is still not entirely clear to science how a tattoo survives on the skin, considering that the immune system is constantly doing its best to destroy it. What happens is that, when tattooed, the body considers the design an aggression.
The skin is the immune system’s “first barrier” and has fast-acting defensive cells that can spring into action when breached, with the aim of discovering anything foreign and destroying it for the healing process to take place.
This mission is usually successful, as in the healing process of a burn, for example. However, when it comes to ink, this is different. As experts explain, the particles in the pigments are bulky and difficult to be degraded by the enzymes of an immune cell, forming a true permanent stamp.
So when inks are taken up by immune cells, it’s as if they refuse to be broken down. So when ink is visible on the surface of the body, it’s not just tangled up between skin cells, but in the guts of macrophages that can’t “digest” it.
Scientists point out that, at the end of that cell’s life, it begins to break down, releasing the pigment in its nucleus. However, soon after, this ink is absorbed by another macrophage, and the cycle starts again. This is precisely why it is so difficult to remove tattoos with a laser.
However, despite knowing the principle of this “maintenance” mechanism of ink in human skin, science has not yet proven whether this interaction with macrophages has consequences, since blocked macrophages may be less able to absorb more dangerous substances, as pathogens.
Previously, scientists have noted that tattoo pigment can alter the proteins they produce and the signals they send to other cells, and one theory is that the cell may begin to over- or under-react to foreign materials, potentially putting the immune system on edge. at a disadvantage if a new tattoo ends up inflamed. Still, it’s worth understanding that infections are rare with tattoos.
Source: The Atlantic
