What makes tattoos permanent?
Glue sticks.
No.
Our skin has three layers, epidermis, dermis and hypodermis.
Epidermis sheds thousands of skin cells every day.
Hence, when we get a tattoo.
The tattoo needles which are coated with colored pigment.
Are inserted through the epidermis into the dermis.
Thus, preventing the tattoo pigment from getting shed away.
However, it is mainly our body's immune response which makes tattoos permanent.
What?
But how?
The tattoo needles create wounds in the skin, activating the immune response.
Immune cells like macrophages.
Reach the wounded site and start to eat the small particles of colored pigment and clean the area.
Bigger pigment particles that cannot be eaten by macrophages.
Are absorbed by fibroblasts present in the dermis.
These fibroblasts along with some macrophages remain at the site making the tattoo permanent.