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Subdermal Magnets Allow You To Wear an IPod Like a Watch
Okian Warrior writes "Tattoo artist Jersey from Dynasty Tattoo (in New Jersey) implanted sub-dermal magnets in his arm to wear his iPod touch like a watch. From the article: '“Those magnets are actually called micro-dermal anchors, and in body piercing they are very common. The tops are actually just 5 millimetre magnetic tops,” he said. “I took the ends of magnets and actually adhered them to the back of the iPod, and that’s how they click into my skin.”
He added: “I can go for a run and it won’t come off. I’ve already taken it to the gym and jogged with it on.”'"
Have fun getting an MRI.
and i would bet that at 90ish angles to a strong electrical field there is almost always a strong Magnetic field.
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The problem isn't the magnet.
The problem is that the skin compressed between two magnets will eventually die and rot away from the compression and he will have a hole in his arm.
Of course, if I ever need an MRI, I'll need them taken out.
Not necessarily:
From: http://www.stevehaworth.com/wordpress/index.php/welcome-from-steve-haworth/magnetic-faq
'However, we now know of a few people who have the magnets have gone through MRIs and this did not happen. One person reported that the magnet just vibrated very strongly. Another person reported that the techs shielded his hand, as they would with someone who had shrapnel or other implants.'
You know what else would allow you to wear an iPod like a watch? A watchband.
If I were in a betting mood, I'd imagine that the largest risk would be implant degradation. Rare earth magnets, in their raw or thin-layer-of-nickel-plate forms, are not biocompatible or stable under implant conditions. If the protective coating(the firmer flavors of silicone elastomer seem to be popular; but I'm sure that there are others) is breached he'll have to get out the potato peeler and dig out a nasty lump of putrifying magnet corrosion products. Hardly fatal; but neither fun nor scar-free.
It didn't take too long for that to happen to the 'magnet in fingertip for 6th sense' guy, and I wouldn't be terribly optimistic here.
The anchors themselves are transdermal (through the skin), not subdermal (entirely under the skin) as the headline states. The magnetic caps sit on top of the steel which is protruding outside the skin, and the iPod then sits on them.
except thats not how these implants work. the actual magnets sit just above the skin like external mounts so the only tension on the skin is from the bases of the implants.
the real problem having to get new implants to support next years model.
they say it is often more relevant then the comment above, all we know is its called the Sig!
Wrong. The iron in hemoglobin is not magnetic.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Actually, the magnets are not *under* his skin. They stick out through holes in his skin.
What a bad bad idea.
As another guy with fingertip magnets (one in each ring finger) I second this!
Magnetic fields cause the tiny magnets to align to the field. You can feel the magnet inside the finger being attracted or repelled. In the case of alternating current, you have an oscillating electromagnetic field which causes the magnet to vibrate. There's no current being induced; you don't get shocked. If you want to try it without the implant, superglue a tiny rare earth magnet to your skin and go hunt some strong oscillating EM fields (AC adapters, some electric motors.) It's definitely a cool human augmentation, and kind of a comic book superpower. Sort of.
In the case of the article, he's got subdermal anchors with magnets attached to the part that sticks out of the skin. I've been wondering if one could get the same magnetic sensory ability from this arrangement, feeling the vibrating magnet. You could switch it for different magnets, and the shaft sticking out of the skin would give the magnet more leverage in most alignments.
"Surgery"? Body modders are not surgeons. They may (or may not) follow best practices around hygiene, sterilization, air filtration, infection control, etc. Their pain management is limited to over the counter medications and topical treatments such as ice. What they have in common with surgeons is they both take knives to skin.
John
Interesting. If anyone else cares, a somewhat enlightening bit of Googling on the subject seems to indicate that it varies from doctor to doctor, and that the main concern is the metal interfering with electrocauterisation equipment (in the case that something goes wrong during surgery, even if it wasn't intended to be used originally) and causing burns. It's a risk mitigation thing, and it appears that some places won't budge, whereas others will have you sign a release, with further variability based on the inherent risk of the type of surgery in question.