THink Tech Talk #22: What's in a Needle Cartridge?

It's time to take a moment to think about needles! You know... the ones we use to tattoo people's faces? Yeah, those ones.

Why is there a lot of price variation in cosmetic tattoo needle cartridges for different machines? Why should you pay for a genuine needle cartridge for a machine like a Nouveau Contour when you might be able to find a generic product that’s cheaper. Well, here are a few reasons why:

• In the case of Nouveau, the genuine German-engineered needles are laser sharpened, for easy, smooth, precision skin penetration (please see the attached image of an 'original vs fakes' comparison that we also featured in our Tech Talk #21)
• Genuine Nouveau needles have an engineered texture designed to carry more pigment on the needle shaft into the skin.
• All the components that contact the needle as it moves up and down doing up to 150 penetrations per second are precision-made for minimum vibration and smooth operation.
• The fine balance of the whole mechanism enables effortless operation.
• A membrane within the needle cartridge prevents ‘back flow’ of pigment and body fluids into the cartridge and into the handpiece, maximising the infection control safety.
• Oh, and use of ‘fakes’ or generic cartridges may breaking your handpiece, or the machine itself, and invalidate the warranty. Sometimes it’s easy to tell as generic cartridges leave marks.

P.S. Genuine, high quality cartridges represent a 2 or 3% of the full cost of a cosmetic tattoo treatment. You and your client deserve them.