I've been hearing about tattoo removal creams for a while, and it seems they're getting better and cheaper. That youthful magic moment at spring break that has been haunting you can finally vanish, and it won't cost you an arm and a leg!

Researcher Alec Falkenham at Dalhousie University in Halifax is developing a topical cream that he says will help fade tattoo ink.

Laser tattoo removal is costly and causes burns to the skin. Alec claims his removal cream doesn't even cause any skin inflammation.

“When comparing it to laser-based tattoo removal, in which you see the burns, the scarring, the blisters, in this case, we’ve designed a drug that doesn’t really have much off-target effect,” he told CBC News Canada.

Falkenham's new cream targets macrophages, white blood cells that are filled with ink from the tattoo. New macrophages target and eat the macrophages filled with ink, therefore eventually removing the tattoo.

The best part? It's pretty cheap. A 10-by-10-centimeter area would cost approximately $4.50 per treatment.

Still in development, Falkenham isn’t sure when the cream will be available commercially.

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