L'Oreal's using 3D printers to make artificial skin

When 3D printing first came on the scene, we were excited about the possibility of printing make-up.
But now L’Oreal Paris has taken the technology one step further, revealing plans to use it to print artificial skin.
Yep, you read that correctly. The brand has been printing human skin to use for product testing.
Partnering with Organovo, a company that creates “functional human tissues…for use in drug discovery and medical research,” the French beauty giant hopes to make skin testing a whole lot quicker and easier.
But how does it actually work?
Speaking to allure.com, L’Oreal tech incubator global vice president Guive Balooch explains it involves the use of “bio-ink… made out of human cells collected from tissue biopsies, donated cells, or stem cell sources.”
Then, it gets a tad complicated…
“The tissue is printed into a matrix, where co-printed gel holds the form or negative spaces needed in the printing process but is removed within 24 hours, leaving behind a 100 per cent cellular tissue," says Balooch.
Riiight. I’m no skin scientist, so the ins and outs are still a bit of a mystery. But the most important thing to take away from this is that the final product is as close to natural skin as you can get (without actually using the real thing).
"The final tissue is 100 per cent cellular with no scaffolds or synthetic structures to get as close as possible to the behaviour of the cells and tissues in their natural environment without foreign material.”
So. Cool. Albeit, a teeny bit gross.
This isn’t the first time the brand has revolutionised product testing, with the L’Oreal Make-Up Genius app letting us virtually try on products before we buy.
But skin printing? Wow. The wonders of technology, AMIRITE?
What do you think of L’Oreal’s skin printing? What other beauty technologies would you like to see invented?
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48 Member Comments
Have not heard of this, interesting. I'm keen for the acne vaccine to come out if a cure for acne has definitely come about.
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Wow it is crazy what technology can do these days.
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Wow it is crazy what technology can do these days.
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I still have difficulty getting my head around the concept of 3D printing, let alone printing skin.
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Hmm, very interesting! I wonder if they would have the same issues as organ transplants, eg. rejection by the host body? I would love to read up on their clinical reseach data when they get to that. I can see huge opportunities for this technology but we'll see if they use it for more than just cosmetic testing...
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Hopefully this means they will stop animal testing!!
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ah what the...? I cant believe this is possible
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Very progressive here, it is fascinating
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Sounds interesting.
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Hopefully this means an end to animal testing!
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Its truly amazing....but slightly off-putting!
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This is really interesting
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Printing skin for real problems (burns, scarring) is a wonderful idea and I'm all for crazy technology that is acieving this but for pure vanity?
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Wow! The things they can do are just amazing.
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These 3D printers amaze me! And to think they can print skin or as close to it as possible, so that it can be used for testing. The mind boggles at all this amazing advanced technology.
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Eeek. The idea of printing human skin kind of grosses me out but on the up-side, it'll be great if there's no more animal testing!
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Interesting, I wonder if it'll be used for skin grafting?
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Wow so informative, I love reading about this- good reflection on the brand too
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What will they think of next, it amazing.
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Technology really has advanced so much. I think its great, hopefully means no more animal testing, and can help people with skin issues.
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Umm... I guess it's better than animal testing, but it still sounds just a tad creepy. I couldn't help but think of the movie The Island while reading this article.
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Informative article throwing insight on advanced technology
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I can't wait for things like this to develop so that animal testing can be abolished. But of course L'oreal can afford to do testing like this, but can't afford to draw out of the chinese market...
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