• Chozo@fedia.io
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    4 months ago

    “We strongly discourage attempting this on human skin, as the toxicology of dye molecules in humans, particularly when applied topically, has not been fully evaluated,” he tells Popular Science.

    I feel like it’s only a matter of time before this becomes a TikTok trend.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Wait, let me get this straight: they’re not even sure if Yellow #5/Tartrazine is safe to be applied topically, but it’s FDA-approved to be ingested?

      • Chozo@fedia.io
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        4 months ago

        Things absorbed through the skin may be in a different state when they reach your bloodstream than things that are ingested. The process of digestion can break down a lot of things that would otherwise be harmful, but aren’t similarly filtered when absorbed through the skin.

        It’s also why some medicines are taken by swallowing a pill, and some are taken by dissolving a tablet under your tongue.

          • EldritchFeminity@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            4 months ago

            There’s a difference between having Dorito dust on your fingers and having it massaged/injected into your skin via microneedling. It’s closer to “don’t tattoo yourself with Dorito dust” than it is “don’t let it get on you.”

            • Ænima@lemm.ee
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              4 months ago

              I mean, people tattoo with phosphorous (I think it was phosphorous) to get glow in the dark tattoos and that shit’s a carcinogen! People gonna people.

              • Fondots@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                Some glow in the dark chemicals are called phosphors, and while they’re named after phosphorus, they usually do not contain any phosphorus, zinc sulfide for example. These are the kinds of things you might find on a watch face or stickers or whatever that need to absorb light from some other source first.

                To make it even more confusing, phosphorus isn’t actually phosphorescent, its glow is from chemiluminescence, the result of a chemical reaction.

                And for what it’s worth, stuff that glows under a black light is fluorescent.

                I don’t think phosphorus has ever been used for glowing tattoos, and if it was I’m pretty sure no one is still using it. We’re well outside of my realm of expertise, but it should also be considered that how a chemical enters your body can make a difference in how toxic it is too, there’s a whole lot of chemistry at work in your body, and ingesting something and absorbing it through digestion isn’t necessarily going to have the same effect as absorbing it through your skin, there’s a reason different medications have to be taken oral, allowed to dissolve under your tongue, given as a suppository, intravenously, intramuscularly, subdermally, etc. that said, I’m pretty sure phosphorus is bad no matter how you put it into someone’s body.

              • SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml
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                4 months ago

                My understanding is that phosphates are no longer used, and that most “glow in the dark” tattoos are actually glow under UV tattoos now.

            • TheLowestStone@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              Additionally, we’re talking about using a significantly higher concentration of the dye that you’re going to find in Dorito dust.

      • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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        4 months ago

        I believe have a problem with the cuboid bone in my foot, and I’ve been waiting over a year for a podiatrist. I wonder if I can see if there’s a crack in it myself… It’s close enough to the surface that it should be visible if that really works? I wonder how no one who works with the stuff has ever noticed this before

        • jordanlund@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          I’d think a fracture big enough to be a problem would be immediately apparent, but if it’s just a hairline, this probably isn’t clear enough to show it…

          OTOH, if you’re around Portland, I know a super good podiatrist.

        • Smoogs@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          But they could just do an X-ray of that. I would have thought other procedures such as tissue injuries would be what benefits from a procedure like this which would otherwise require an expensive follow-up

            • Smoogs@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              Sounds like someone forgot to put in your paper work. I’d follow it up if I were you.

              • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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                4 months ago

                Paper work is the problem, my doctor’s office sucks. My actual doctor is great. Literally the best experience with a doctor we’ve ever had, but the office is terrible. Still waiting on an ultrasound of my gallbladder for 8 months, waiting on testosterone shots for low t for 1.5 years, plus other shit, and that’s just me. My mom had to wait 3 months for colostomy supplies because they couldn’t manage to fax the prescription correctly. She had to wash out and reuse ostomy bags using skin safe glue and tape to stick them on. But they’re the only ones around here. It’s a big corp that bought out all the other practices that didn’t shut down, so they are literally the only PCP in the area. Even the urgent care is owned by the same people. No matter which office you go to it’s all the same problems. :/ but at least our doctor is good. Lol.

  • quixotic120@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    “massaging tartrazine solution into hairless mouse skin over the course of a few minutes or using microneedling achieves “complete optical transparency in the red region of the visible spectrum”

    I know it didn’t happen this way but I like to believe it was someone having their unwashed dorito fingers after lunch, decided to massage a mouse for several minutes, and figuring this out

  • Zier@fedia.io
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    4 months ago

    Halloween is going to be lit this year bitches. Release the ghost mice!!!

  • Dave@lemmy.nz
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    4 months ago

    This is awesome! How long until we have invisibility potions?

  • Durandal@lemmy.today
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    4 months ago

    Remember where you are so you can tell your kids what you were doing before the “xtreme flavor blasted mousepocalypse”.

    • NOT_RICK@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I now suddenly want an idocracy game where you stop the xtreme flavor blasted mousepocalypse from happening

  • njm1314@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    That doesn’t sound like something we should be putting in our bodies then does it?

    • tacosplease@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Yellow 5 is super common (in the US) for things that go inside our bodies. Doritos, Mt Dew, probably Red Bull. When we were kids there was a rumor that it would shrink your dick haha.

      Read the ingredients on stuff the next few days and take note of how often you see it. It’s probably why they chose it as one of the test substances. It’s relatively safe to eat.

      What is unknown is how dangerous it is to absorb large amounts into someone’s skin.

      It’s like the illegal weed vape pen issue years ago. People would cut the product with vitamin e to thicken it and also make more money. Vitamin E is safe for human consumption. Turns out its vapor is terrible for lungs. It’s quite unsafe for that kind of consumption.

      • Pilterlisky@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        Highly recommend anyone reading check out an app called Yuka. You scan barcodes and it’ll give you a score of the ingredients and why things are rated the way they are. Not always 100%, but better than trying to just figure out if carboxymethylcellulose is safe, (it is) let alone pronouncable.

      • njm1314@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        No, the article, or I should I say ads with writing in between, says"potentially non-toxic". Which I find to be a highly troublesome qualifier.

        • bdot@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          perhaps it’s worded that way for legal reasons? maybe if they flat out said it was non-toxic, and then it turned out that they were wrong, someone could sue them.

          i am sure it’s the same sort of idea behind posting a video of someone committing a crime on camera, they use the word “allegedly”

          dunno; not a lawyer

  • restingboredface@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    So, I skimmed the article and may have missed it. Why is this anything more that tinkering with and (maybe torturing) mice? What’s the actual scientific value here? (Assuming invisibility potion wasn’t an actual goal)

    Perhaps medical dyes for imaging?

    • TheLowestStone@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      They applied a yellow, food-safe dye to the skin of the mice and found it caused light to refract in such a way that their skin became significantly more transparent. An article I read (I did not read this one) listed some potential uses like making veins visible for blood draws and more precise tattoo removal. The dye washed off afterwards.