By Roberta Jasina

Diabetics may soon be lining up for a special new tattoo that does “tricks.”

Scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and at the Texas Diabetes Institute are working on a new tattoo that is designed to change color when a person’s blood sugar drops, or when it spikes.

Oakwood Hospital podiatrist, Dr. Debbie Woody told WWJ she thinks it’s a fantastic idea.

“It’s very fascinating and amazing,” Woody says. “It’s really still a few years away. It can actually monitor a patient’s blood sugar.’

Dr. Woody said it’s not going to be a tattoo that is readily visible to the naked eye. A patient would use a “monitoring device” such as a black light to see the color changes. The tattoo is designed to go from yellow to orange to pink depending on whether a patient’s blood sugar is high or low.

“That obviously would have a lot of benefits,” says Woody. “You can decrease the amount of pin sticks you have. Certainly very helpful in children with diabetes. It also allows a diabetic to closely monitor their sugar. They’re going to know if (their sugar) is getting low or high.”

Woody doesn’t think it will ever entirely replace a glucose meter, but it will give constant monitoring which can’t be done now.

Samantha Mueller, who does body piercings at Eternal Tattoo in Eastpointe, said people are already calling her asking for the color changing tattoo.

Mueller said, “One lady just wants to get a little heart, because she’s just sick of poking herself, and her fingers hurt.”