Key takeaways: By week 16, dermis density increased by approximately 16% in both treatment groups. Skin roughness and wrinkles also decreased by more than 9% and 13%, respectively, in both groups.

After the tattoo needle punctures deep into your skin, most of the ink is lodged firmly in your dermis - but the rest goes on a journey.

The dermis lies beneath the epidermis and is 20-30 times thicker. It’s made up of a dense layer of fibrous (collagen) and elastic (elastin) tissue.

Structures: Thin skin: Thick skin: Dermis: Thicker dermis, can vary depending on area of body: Thinner dermis: Epidermis: Thinner epidermis, ranging from 0.07–0.15 mm.Epidermis contains 4 layers ...

The reticular dermis is the deeper and thicker layer of the dermis, which lies above the subcutaneous layer of the skin. It contains dense connective tissue, which includes: Blood vessels ...

In order for a tattoo to be permanent, ink has to get into the dermis, the tissue just underneath the outer layer of your skin, called the epidermis.

Jonathan Bennion from the Institute of Human Anatomy explains what happens to the different layers of skin when tattooed and why tattoos fade.