If our body is constantly shedding skin cells, why are tattoos there for years and years of the original skin cells are not?
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There are a type of cell called phagocytes that are part of your immune response. They envelope the ink in an attempt to defeat a foreign substance, but its ink, so they cant really do anything but hold it there, as they die they get replaced by other phagocytes and the tattoo stays put
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Your skin has two layers: The outer layer (epidermis) and lower level (dermis)
You shed skill cells from your epidermis and they are replaced all the time. Your dermis is much more stable and does not undergo this kind of dying and replenishment
Tattoos use a needle to get the ink past your epidermis, into your dermis. If you got tattoo ink and just painted it on you (on the epidermis layer), it would indeed wear off over time
Your “skin” looks like a tiramisu, it’s got layers. There’s your epidermis (top layer), dermis and hypodermis (fatty layer). A tattoo that is too shallow and in your epidermis will sluff off. When you see a tattoo that’s “blown out” that means the artist went to deep and got it in your hypodermis. The fatty layer doesn’t have the same structural integrity as the dermis, so the ink will run and look all fuzzy.
There’s some immune reaction to the ink particles that are another reason the ink stays. I don’t really understand it so I won’t try and explain it. But regarding your question, it’s simply below the layer that sluffs off regularly. It’s not “much deeper” as others are saying, just a little deeper. It’s about the depth of a cat-scratch.
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