This Wrist Tattoo Could Save Your Life!
By djsheryl on June 22, 2022
Tattoos can say a lot about you and your personality, but a new tattoo developed by researchers in Texas can actually save your life.
A team from the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University have developed a device that can attach to the skin of the wrist and be worn comfortably for up to 24 hours. It can continuously monitor blood pressure with incredible accuracy potentially helping diagnose arising issues and inform the treatment of patients with serious heart conditions. Researchers hope that it will pave the way for a blood pressure monitor that doesn’t require a cuff device like a traditional armband.
The Texas team used graphene—a material similar to graphite pencils—to create a tattoo that can be applied directly over a person’s arteries in their wrists. Not only is it incredibly durable, but it’s also the thinnest material in the world. This makes it perfect to be used in an e-tattoo as it allows the wearer to not even feel it on their skin.
It’s applied exactly like a temporary tattoo and while it’s currently just a prototype, this e-tattoo could lay the groundwork for a commercial cuff-less blood pressure monitor that’ll allow the patients to be able to detect and send vital biometric data to their doctors without having to be tethered to a cumbersome machine. This data can include things like “muscle contractions, hydration, tissue composition changes, or even breathing.
You can see what it looks like and how it works in this news story
