What is Digital Permanent Cosmetics?
By Philip and Debi Diorio

Lately, some manufacturers of Permanent Makeup Equipment are offering 'digital machines', or what they call digital machines. They define a 'digital' machine because it has a digital display - LCD (liquid crystal display), which by definition is partially correct.  The issue is, how to tell which one is truly a "digital" machine and what is the definition of "digital". Webster's Dictionary defines the word digital as: Groups of electronic bits or digits providing sound, data, or images as information, stored in an electronic or magnetic medium, void of distortion.

To give you an example, consider music CD's. Did you ever wonder how music on a CD is so clear, without background noise, or distortion? The reason it is so clear, is because music is extracted by an infrared light, which reads digits (numbers) on the disc. These numbers are then converted to music void of distortion. There isn't a needle touching an album, or metal heads touching a tape, therefore you don't hear background scratching or "hissing."

What is Digital Permanent Makeup?

Over ninety (90%) percent of permanent makeup practitioners use traditional/analogue machines. The needle frequency, speed of pigmentation of these machines is controlled solely by plugging the hand piece directly into a DC outlet, or power supply. The greater the energy supply chosen, the faster the needle moves vertically; the less the energy supply, the slower the vertical movement. A true digital machine should guarantee that the speed chosen will be the same as the actual needle frequency.

The Nouveau Contour Digital 700's control unit assures consistent and stable needle frequency, despite resistance of the skin. When resistance of the skin does occur, the digital control unit will maintain the preset needle speed chosen so that the rate of the needle punctures per second remains constant. The digital control unit of the NC Digital 700 will also decrease the needle punctures per second when 'pulling' of the skin occurs. A true digital machine works like a sewing machine, but instead of stopping, or slowing down when the needle hits a seam, it keeps moving!

To make a simple analogy; Imagine what occurs when you place a car on "cruise control" at a pre-set speed. When the car reaches an incline in the road it speeds up and when it begins to descend it slows down, maintaining a consistent and pre-set speed.

Needle Tests

The NC Digital 700 digital machine below (left photo), shows the results of a needle puncture test, evaluated under a microscope. The photo on the right is of a typical Asian analogue machine, which shows the inconsistency of the needle punctures. Notice the skipping of the needle.

10x Magnification

220x Magnification

The photo on the left shows the holes left by the NC Digital 700, compared to those of the Asian analogue machine, picture on right.

"Traditional"/analogue rotary hand pieces are mostly made of plastic so they tend to heat up and breakdown more frequently. These pens have a mechanism, which allows the needle to "rock back and forth", resulting in the needle to move side ways. This side ways movement will cause tearing of the skin upon penetration, resulting in trauma to the skin, swelling, poor pigment retention and pain to the client.

The Differential

A critical aspect of any digital rotary hand piece is the differential. The differential converts one rotary directional movement to another, in this case a reciprocating/linear movement. In order to achieve precise needle movement, void of side wards fluctuation, the differential must be engineered to prevent this from occurring.

The following drawings show two different types of analogue rotary systems. They convert a rotary movement to a linear movement. An example of this is a car or trucks differential, which converts the rotary movement of the drive shaft to the rotary movement of the wheels. The first two illustrations, represent the majority of all rotary machines and attach to a wheel resulting in side wards needle movement. The NC Digital 700 hand piece has been designed to mimic the linear movement of the "coil" machine, shown in the third illustration. The introduction of the coil machine revolutionized the tattoo industry more than 100 years ago, but unlike the coil, which is analogue, the NC 700 maintains undistorted and consistent needle frequency (speed). An illustration of a Nouveau Contour digital hand piece cannot be shown due to privacy protection considerations.

Typical Straight Analogue Rotary

Typical "L" Type Analogue Rotary

Typical Magnetic "Coil"

Conclusion

To put it in a "nutshell", the Nouveau Contour Digital 600 provides undistorted (accurate) and consistent power between the control unit and hand piece despite resistance of the skin. Excellent pigment retention, quick procedure time, less swelling and minimal touchups. As a result, more satisfied clients and more referrals.

For further information, you can contact Philip at 407.566.2081, p.diorio@nouveaucontour.com or Debi at407.566.2085, debi@perfectprofilesinc.com