Electrophoretic Mobility of Some Tattoo Dyes as an Approach to Remove Their Subcutaneous Traces

The electrokinetic (ζ, zeta) potential was determined for a series of commercial tattoo pigments. A standard experimental method involving the measuring of the level difference formed in a U-shaped tube filled with a solution containing the dye after application of some potential difference was used to find ζ-potential values. All of them were negative and sufficiently large to ensure electrophoretic mobility of the pigment particles in a special gelatin-based electrophoretic bed. Gelatin-based beds, one containing a pigment and the other without the pigment, were set side by side in a microelectrophoretic cell. The application of relatively low potential difference (20-25 V) provoked the migration of the pigment in the gelatin bed without pigment for as much as 10 mm after a 40-minute long electrophoresis. The intensity of the color of the pigment did decrease noticeably. These results seem to indicate the potential applicability of the reported method for the elimination of old and/or unwanted tattoo and of tattoo traces left after previous manipulations.