Permanent makeup is a

cosmetic Cosmetic may refer to: *Cosmetics, or make-up, substances to enhance the beauty of the human body, apart from simple cleaning *Cosmetic, an adjective describing beauty, aesthetics, or appearance, especially concerning the human body *Cosmetic, a t ...

technique which employs

tattoos A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, and/or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several tattooing pr ...

(permanent pigmentation of the dermis) as a means of producing designs that resemble

makeup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

, such as eye-lining and other permanent enhancing colors to the

skin Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. Other cuticle, animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have diffe ...

of the

face The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may aff ...

lips The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...

, and

eyelids An eyelid is a thin fold of skin that covers and protects an eye. The levator palpebrae superioris muscle retracts the eyelid, exposing the cornea to the outside, giving vision. This can be either voluntarily or involuntarily. The human eye ...

. It is also used to produce artificial

eyebrows An eyebrow is an area of short hairs above each Human eye, eye that follows the shape of the lower margin of the Supraorbital ridge, brow ridges of some mammals. In humans, eyebrows serve two main functions: first, human communication, communica ...

, particularly in people who have lost them as a consequence of old age, disease, such as alopecia totalis,

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

, or a genetic disturbance, and to disguise

scar A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a na ...

s and

hypopigmentation Hypopigmentation is characterized specifically as an area of skin becoming lighter than the baseline skin color, but not completely devoid of pigment. This is not to be confused with depigmentation, which is characterized as the absence of all pi ...

in the skin such as in

vitiligo Vitiligo is a disorder that causes the skin to lose its color. Specific causes are unknown but studies suggest a link to immune system changes. Signs and symptoms The only sign of vitiligo is the presence of pale patchy areas of depigmen ...

. It is also used to restore or enhance the breast's

areola The human areola (''areola mammae'', or ) is the pigmented area on the breast around the nipple. Areola, more generally, is a small circular area on the body with a different histology from the surrounding tissue, or other small circular ar ...

, such as after

breast surgery Breast surgery is a form of surgery performed on the breast. Types Types include: *Breast reduction surgery *Augmentation mammoplasty *Mastectomy *Lumpectomy *Breast-conserving surgery, a less radical cancer surgery than mastectomy *Mastopexy, o ...

. Most commonly called permanent cosmetics, other names include derma-pigmentation, micro-pigmentation, and cosmetic tattooing, the latter being most appropriate since permanent makeup is applied under sterile conditions similar to that of a tattoo. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

the inks used in permanent makeup are subject to approval as cosmetics by the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

. The pigments used in the inks are color additives, which are subject to pre-market approval under the

Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act The United States Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (abbreviated as FFDCA, FDCA, or FD&C) is a set of laws passed by the United States Congress in 1938 giving authority to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to oversee the safety of f ...

. However, because of other competing public health priorities in the United States and a previous lack of evidence of safety problems specifically associated with these pigments, FDA traditionally has not exercised regulatory authority for color additives on the pigments used in tattoo inks.

History

The first documented permanent makeup treatment was done by the famous U.K. tattoo artist Sutherland MacDonald in 1902 at his parlor, #76 Jermyn Str., London, "all-year-round delicate pink complexion" on the cheeks. In 1920s this "London fad" crossed the Atlantic, and the "electrically a permanent complexion or blush on the face" became popular in the USA. The tattooist

George Burchett George "Professor" Burchett (23 August 1872 – 3 April 1953) was an English tattoo artist known as the "King of Tattooists". Profile Burchett was born George Burchett-Davis on 23 August 1872 in the English seaside town of Brighton, East Suss ...

, a major developer of the technique when it became fashionable in the 1930s, described in his memoirs how beauty salons tattooed many women without their knowledge, offering it as a "complexion treatment ... of injecting vegetable dyes under the top layer of the skin."

Results

Long-term results

The best possible colour results can perform for many years or may begin to fade over time. The amount of time required for this depends per person. While permanent makeup pigment remains in the dermis, its beauty-span may be influenced by several possible factors, including environmental, procedural and/or individual factors. Sun exposure fades colour. The amount and colour of pigment deposit at the dermal level can affect the length of time that permanent makeup looks its best. Very natural-looking applications are likely to require a touch-up before more dramatic ones for this reason. Individual influences include lifestyles that find an individual in the sun regularly, such as with gardening or swimming. Skin tones are a factor in colour value changes over time.

Imperfections

There are cases of undesired results.

Removal

As with tattoos, permanent makeup can be difficult to remove. Common techniques used for this are

laser resurfacing Photorejuvenation is a skin treatment that uses lasers, intense pulsed light, or photodynamic therapy to treat skin conditions and remove effects of photoaging such as wrinkles, spots, and textures. The process induces controlled wounds to the sk ...

dermabrasion Dermabrasion is a type of surgical skin planing, generally with the goal of removing acne, scarring and other skin or tissue irregularities, typically performed in a professional medical setting by a dermatologist or plastic surgeon trained speci ...

(physical or chemical exfoliation), and surgical removal.

Adverse effects and complications

As with tattoos, permanent makeup may have complications, such as migration,

allergies Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic derma ...

to the pigments, formation of scars,

granuloma A granuloma is an aggregation of macrophages that forms in response to chronic inflammation. This occurs when the immune system attempts to isolate foreign substances that it is otherwise unable to eliminate. Such substances include infectious ...

s and

keloid Keloid, also known as keloid disorder and keloidal scar, is the formation of a type of scar which, depending on its maturity, is composed mainly of either type III (early) or type I (late) collagen. It is a result of an overgrowth of granulation t ...

s, skin cracking, peeling,

blister A blister is a small pocket of body fluid (lymph, serum, plasma, blood, or pus) within the upper layers of the skin, usually caused by forceful rubbing (friction), burning, freezing, chemical exposure or infection. Most blisters are filled wi ...

ing and local

infection An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

. The use of unsterilized tattooing instruments may infect the patient with serious diseases such as

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

and

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal pa ...

. Removal problems may also ensue, due to patient dissatisfaction or regret, and they may be particularly difficult to remove in places such as eyelids and lips without leaving permanent

sequela A sequela (, ; usually used in the plural, sequelae ) is a pathological condition resulting from a disease, injury, therapy, or other trauma. Derived from the Latin word, meaning “sequel”, it is used in the medical field to mean a complication ...

e. Compliance with 'standard precautions' and a uniform code of safe practice should be insisted upon by a person considering undergoing a cosmetic tattoo procedure. It is essential that technicians use appropriate personal protective equipment to protect the health of the technician and the client particularly in the prevention of transmission of blood borne pathogens. It is also essential that technicians have been properly trained in the application of pigment into the skin to avoid migration. Tattoo pigments can "migrate" when a technician "overworks" an area, especially around the eyes where the pigment can "bleed" into surrounding tissue. Migration is generally avoidable by not over-working swollen tissue. Understanding the need to minimize swelling and recognize a good stopping point is paramount to successful application. Removing migrated pigment is a difficult and complicated process. On very rare occasions, people with permanent makeup have reported swelling or

burning Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combusti ...

in the affected areas when they underwent

magnetic resonance imaging Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio wave ...

(MRI). However a detailed review of the cases within the medical literature involving cosmetic tattoos indicates that poor quality pigments, pigments adulterated with heavy metals, and pigments with diamagnetic properties may have been the causative factors in most of those cases. Topical anaesthetics are often used by technicians prior to cosmetic tattooing and there is the potential for adverse effects if topical anaesthetics are not used safely. In 2013 the International Industry association CosmeticTattoo.org published a detailed position and general safety precautions for the entire industry. The causes of a change of colour after cosmetic tattooing are both complex and varied. As discussed in the detailed industry article "Why Do Cosmetic Tattoos Change Colour", primarily there are four main areas that have influence over the potential for a cosmetic tattoo to change colour; #Factors related to the pigment characteristics #Factors related to the methods and techniques of the tattooist #Factors intrinsic to the client #Factors related to the client's environment and medicines

Examples

The eyebrow tattooing is an example of a "powdery filled" technique as opposed to individual hairline strokes since the client already has eyebrow hair but simply wanted an enhancement and shaping. The top eyeliner represents a thin eyeliner tattoo and a "lash enhancement" procedure that is used to define the eye without making it look excessively made up.

References

External links

FDA: Tattoos and Permanent Makeup

* Paola Piccinini, Laura Contor, Ivana Bianchi, Chiara Senaldi, Sazan Pakalin: ''Safety of tattoos and permanent make-up'',

Joint Research Centre The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is the European Commission's science and knowledge service which employs scientists to carry out research in order to provide independent scientific advice and support to European Union (EU) policy. The JRC is ...

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