Tattoo To Monitor Diabetes

infonography notes that the "BBC is reporting about using tattoos to monitor the state of a diabetics' health. While TV's the Invisible Man series had this, this is actually real. Designed by Gerard Cote, of Texas A&M University they are made of polyethylene glycol beads that are coated with fluorescent molecules. Likely this will start to change the attitudes of parents who have been resisting the urging of their kids to get Tattoos."

This should really be a great thing

[Slashdotess]

My father has diabetes and I don't want to get it myself, I hope with the new generation of genetic research we'll have more of these stories on slashdot.

How long would this last?

[ndnet]

This sounds like a great idea, and I know many people (my grandfather included) who would prefer this to the finger pricking fun on a regular basis. However, it does raise a couple of questions.

1) How long would it last? Since it ISN'T absorbed into the cells, how long could the fluorescent dye, if you will, stay in the "interstitial fluid"? Would you need a new tattoo every month? year?

2) How much will it cost? The method doesn't really sound that expensive, except for the watch-like device. But will HMOs pay for it? Medicare?

3) How reliable is it? There are some diabetics who are very sensitive to sugar differences. Howa accurate can this be? Does it compare favorably with strips?

Sounds cool, sign me up

[jonabbey]

It sounds like there's a lot of details left to be worked out, but if something like this could serve as a continuous blood glucose diagnostic, I'm so there. Having been an insulin dependent diabetic for the last 13 years or so, a continuous blood glucose monitor has really been the most important missing piece to the whole puzzle.

Sampling my blood sugar once or twice a day is far too infrequent to get a sense of how my blood sugar rises and falls over time. Having a monitor that could record my blood sugar levels even every five minutes would be fantastic. Make it able to sample every five seconds and hook it up to an insulin pump, and you've got as close to a cybernetic cure as one could hope for.

Being an insulin-dependent diabetic is like driving a manual transmission car.. very workable, but you have to do a lot more work, and you have to know what the engine and gears are doing. If it's still too early for a cure, having a really good tachometer would be the next best thing.

And having an intelligent cyber-tattoo would be just too cyber-punky for words. Sign me up.

Re:Pain free?

[Yorrike]

I've been a type 1 (insulin dependant) diabetic for 19 years (since I was 3) and no matter what anyone tells you, it still hurts. You do get used to it, but it's pain I'd rather avoid, all the same.

a few more benefits

[exhilaration]

This is cool - I thought of a few more benefits:

1) This would make it far easier for the patient's loved ones to measure their glucose levels. A mother would be able to check a child's glucose level in the middle of the night without waking him/her up. I can also imagine a coworker saying, "Dude, your glucose looks a little low - maybe you should go eat something." :)

2) Even without a bracelet or necklace identifying the patient as a diabetic, emergency personel could quickly see the patient's gluocose levels. If a diabetic is laying on the side of the road about to enter a coma, saving a few seconds could be critical.

Personally, I like (1) - it would be a huge quality of life improvement.

Obvious next step...

[tlambert]

The obvious next step is to vary the type of material being used linearly across the tattoo itself, turning it into a "glucose meter".

As an interesting aside, could this method be used to produce tattoos that were more easily removable as well?

I think I would want this to be removable, particularly when stem cell research finally cures diabetes once and for all, and you are left with a legacy tattoo.

-- Terry