The dissemination of tattooing into mainstream culture has raised concerns pertaining to the medical implications of these practices. This paper reports on the coating of tattoo needles with metallic-glass (MG) to reduce trauma to the skin. Extensive experimentation using pork samples and live pigs demonstrated the beneficial effects of non-stick MG coatings. Following 30 insertions into pork skin, significantly less tissue adhered to the MG-coated needles than to uncoated needles. MG-coated needles were also shown to reduce the spread of pigment to the surface of surrounding skin by up to 57%. This resulted in narrower tattoo lines of higher density, indicating that MG-coated needles could be useful in high-resolution tattooing. Histopathological analysis on live pigs revealed severe trauma induced by bare needles, as indicated by the secretion of fluids immediately after tattooing. The wounds formed by coated needles closed within 2 h after tattooing; however, those formed by bare needles remained open for at least 2 h and inflammation was still observed after 3 days. At 5 days after tattooing, skin punctured by the coated needle was entirely healed, whereas skin punctured by the bare needle was still covered with scabs. In addition to the medical benefits, it appears that MG-coated needles could improve the quality of tattoos, based on the fact that the amount of pigment retained in the skin is inversely proportional to the trauma caused by needles.

将纹身传播到主流文化中引起了人们对这些做法的医学含义的关注。本文报道了用金属玻璃（MG）涂层纹身针以减少对皮肤的伤害。使用猪肉样品和生猪进行的大量实验证明了不粘MG涂料的有益效果。插入猪皮30次后，粘在MG涂层针上的组织明显少于未涂层针。还显示了使用MG涂层的针头最多可减少57％的色素向周围皮肤表面的扩散。这导致较高密度的较窄的纹身线，表明MG涂层的针可用于高分辨率纹身。对活猪的组织病理学分析显示，裸针会造成严重的创伤，如纹身后立即分泌液体所表明的那样。由涂有涂层的针头形成的伤口在纹身后2小时内闭合；但是，由裸针形成的针头仍保持张开至少2小时，三天后仍观察到炎症。纹身后第5天，涂有涂层的针刺穿的皮肤完全愈合，而裸针刺穿的皮肤仍被still疮覆盖。除了医学上的好处外，基于皮肤中保留的色素量与针头造成的伤害成反比的事实，MG涂层的针头似乎可以改善纹身的质量。由裸露的针头形成的那些至少保持开放2小时，并在3天后仍观察到炎症。纹身后第5天，涂有涂层的针刺穿的皮肤完全愈合，而裸针刺穿的皮肤仍被still疮覆盖。除了医学上的好处外，基于皮肤中保留的色素量与针头造成的伤害成反比的事实，MG涂层的针头似乎可以改善纹身的质量。由裸露的针头形成的那些至少保持开放2小时，并在3天后仍观察到炎症。纹身后第5天，涂有涂层的针刺穿的皮肤完全愈合，而裸针刺穿的皮肤仍被still疮覆盖。除了医学上的好处外，基于皮肤中保留的色素量与针头造成的伤害成反比的事实，MG涂层的针头似乎可以改善纹身的质量。