CipherX applies painless permanent tattoos with dissolving microneedle patches
surprisetalk
27 points
38 comments
July 29, 2026
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Discussion Highlights (12 comments)
cestith
This is neat for small flash pieces. I’m not sure I want to imagine the process for getting a half sleeve of one’s own design applied this way, fifteen millimeter diameter at a time.
echoangle
Kind of scary, imagine someone putting an ad in that and placing it on random people without them noticing. Obviously doesn’t really make sense because if it’s an ad you also know who did it but somehow that’s the first thing that came to mind for me.
geremiiah
Capitalism uglifying the world that tiny bit more, so long as we can squeeze some more $$$ out of poor impressionable people...
delecti
Neat concept, but the density of needles seems quite low for tattoing, and that is likely why the linework of the tattoos in those pictures is so blurry. While getting tattooed, the needle will puncture skin and deposit ink typically 1500+ times per minute. The most specific that this article gets is saying the patches have "hundreds" of needles. At the high end (999 needles in a patch) this means that this patch has substantially lower resolution than a single minute of being tattooed. So, it's a neat gimmick, but it'll need a lot of work to be much more than that. It'd be neat for some small pieces to fill space I guess. And a bit of a tangent, but I also have a pretty strong needle aversion, and I have not found that getting tattooed "feels" like there are any needles involved in the process. I know logically that it is a needle, but subjective process (the pain and visuals) really bears no resemblance to a needle.
pavon
Design you own graphics or select from our exclusive collection: https://mocagh.org/broderbund/printshop-refcard.pdf
dekhn
Are tattoos normally considered painful? I got my first one recently (a small shoulder tattoo) and it didn't hurt really, more like a cat's tongue rasping against the skin. I have heard my artist has a light touch, and it wasn't a very sensitive area.
mindslight
Seems perfect for barcodes...
roughly
Unless they’re also coming out with painless permanent tattoo removal as well, this seems like one of those things where removing the friction isn’t actually a good thing. Door knobs and warning signs on one way doors are a design feature, not a bug.
wartywhoa23
A perfect technology to mark cattle with QR codes on the forehead.
metalman
not tattoos, these are stamps it will show in there eyes and the pain will come as the price to be paid for having a painless choice, reversed
effnorwood
company invents mid life crisis option for the pain averse directionally challenged.
weezing
Reminds me of marking cattle