“Phagocytes are like Pac-Men
When tattoo ink is deposited in the dermis with the little buzzing needles, the body mounts an immune response with macrophages, phagocytes and mast cells. Macrophages and phagocytes are the rough equivalent of microbiological Pac-Men (or Ms. Pac-Men to be gender-equal), and literally eat and envelop the tattoo ink in an effort to contain the invasion of foreign material. (If you put a stethoscope on your new tattoo, you just might hear a faint wocka-wocka-wocka.)

As the damaged epidermis and dermis heal, granulation tissue and specifically dermal fibroblasts interlock the ink-containing phagocytes in a collagen network just beneath the dermis/epidermis junction. That’s how the ink stays put for years.”

This is an article from Dr. Richardson about tattoos.
(http://www.velonews.com/article/9344)

So, no matter what you do, tattos will slightly blur and fade, presumably because these ink containing fibroblasts are migrating further down your skin to expel/take-away/flush the “dangerous” ink particles.

What I wonder, and what I would like some help answering is…. “how severe is this aging process 50 years from now?”

I’m fine with general fading or slight blurring (my tattoo is pretty undetailed and medium size). But the skin throughout our years is constantly breaking down and rebuilding, so how does this affect the tattoo?
-Does the blurring have a “max-out” point, or does the ink just keep spreading and spreading from its original point…to the point that the tattoo is just a blob? (I’m talking about 40-50 years from now)
–Will all (or any tattoos) eventually look like this...
or are they gauranteed to retain their general shape and outline? like this…

Again, I’m fine if 50 years from now, my tattoo fades to the point of mouse. Because this can be easily corrected and redone (most of the ink is gone and the skin is clear). What I don’t want is the tattoo ink to just spread significantly all over and blob.

There is a lot of useless conjecture and personal narratives concerning tattoos, but very little scientific or evidential backing. So please, if you plan to respond to this post, have your facts straight.
Give sources, pictures, etc…. not just out-of-the-blue comments or opinions.