Technology-based Tattoos can Generate Medical Alerts and Save Your Life!

Wearables like e-tattoos could reduce how vital medical instruments interfere with a patient's life as healthcare technology becomes smaller and smarter

Electronic tattoos, also known as e-tattoos or digital tattoos, are applied to the moist skin, where they adhere for a few days or until you rub them off, much like temporary tattoos for kids. Children's tattoos are purely cosmetic, but medical tattoos can track vital biomarkers like blood pressure, heart rate, hydration, and blood sugar levels. Flexible electronic components, like conductive ink, that can track vital information about the person wearing it can be used to create an electronic tattoo. These tattoos are created using a liquid metal alloy to print ultrathin circuits, according to Carnegie Mellon University. Similar to a child's decorative tattoo, it must be dampened before being applied to the skin. These tattoos, in contrast to conventional medical devices, have characteristics more akin to lightweight materials; they can be bent, folded, twisted, or otherwise stressed without losing their functionality. It's like having a smart Band-Aid, or the Internet of Things for the human body.

Only because of recent advancements in 3D printing and circuit printing technology, are digital tattoos now a reality. Digital tattoos can be created using materials like gold Nano rods, graphene, or other polymers with a rubber backing, according to The Medical Futurist. Tiny electrodes embedded in the tattoo can collect data about the wearer and send it to cellphones or other connected devices. Because they will be in continual and direct touch with the skin, they will be more accurate than the existing wearable technology and may eventually replace it. Additionally, since they may obtain energy through electrophysiological processes, they can run without batteries. Healthcare wearables driven by the piezoelectric effect, for instance, were described by Technology Networks as being able to produce an electric charge in reaction to applied mechanical stress.

Healthcare wearables can track biomarkers that assist patients and physicians in keeping track of life-threatening health issues, just like conventional medical gadgets. According to Medical Futurist, these tiny, non-invasive gadgets may enable medical professionals to monitor and diagnose heart rhythm issues (arrhythmia), the cardiac activity of premature babies, sleep disorders, and brain functions. They are just as simple to put on as an adhesive bandage; but instead of covering a wound, they keep an eye on patients all the time. Even the medical systems could receive notifications from them. For instance, the device might automatically call an ambulance and send information to emergency medical personnel if a patient's heart rate drops to an unsafe level.

The introduction of flash glucose monitors in the middle of the 2010s revolutionized diabetic care once more by relieving patients of the requirement to provide blood samples. An electrochemical sensor called the Abbott Freestyle Libre Flash Glucose Monitoring System is placed on the upper arm. It is an electronics patch with a 35mm diameter and a thin wire that pierces the skin to reach the interstitial fluid underneath. The wire contains immobilized glucose oxidase enzymes that oxidize interstitial fluid glucose, a biological process that generates an electric current whose magnitude is proportional to blood glucose levels. Readings are taken by holding a smartphone up to the patch, and the device only needs to be changed once every two weeks.