Researchers have found a way for a tattoo to read blood alcohol levels

IT sounds like science fiction and could be a game-changer — a tattoo that can actually tell you how drunk you are. And it’s closer than you think.

WE’VE heard about breathalysers and wrist bands monitoring the amount of alcohol in your blood — but what about a tattoo?

A team of engineers at San Diego’s University of California has created a temporary tattoo that reads your blood alcohol level by monitoring your sweat.

The stick-on tattoo reads your alcohol levels after dispersing a drug on your skin, prompting you to sweat.

An electronic reader is then magnetically attached to the tattoo, reading the results.

It then sends the data to a smartphone app via Bluetooth, where you can check if you’ve had enough. And if you’ve had too many shots, the app can alert doctors or police.

Researchers at the university say the tattoo is a less invasive alternative to finger pricks and can potentially read blood-alcohol levels more accurately than breathalysers.

The data from the tattoo gets transmitted to your phone so you can see instantly how much you’ve had to drunk.

The level of alcohol in the blood is the best indication that someone is drunk.

When tested on nine individuals, the tattoo produced readings matching separate breathalyser tests.

The group of engineers hope that the removable tattoo will help individuals and friends keep track of their alcohol consumption and may even assist bartenders in telling customers when enough is enough.

The device has the potential to reduce alcohol-fuelled incidents such as violence and car accidents.

Although the tattoo can only be used once, the engineers are working to create a tattoo that can keep track of blood-alcohol levels over 24 hours.