Thick crusty scabs on blackout coverup (4 month old tattoo, covered 6 days ago)

[Lazarvs]

So I had a big colored tattoo on my forearm which I regretted. 

Went for a couple black out bands to cover it up. Probably with one of the best artists in the country, won multiple prizes and has a really baffling portfolio, mostly realism. 

Now this shit was painful to tattoo, especially over the old tattoo. Now as it's healing, most of it is fine and looks normal, thin flaking forming, no more plasma oozing, no redness or swelling. 

But the part over the old piece is just terrible. Still hurts, doesn't allow me to fully strech my arm comfortably, has rrally thick crusty scabbing which is still oozing plasma underneath as I clean it. 

Cleaning 3x a day and moisturising too. 

Wearing no clothes over it and sleeping with my arm suspended so it basically never touches anything. 

Artist told me it definitely looks thicker than expected, but to just keep babying it and cleaning/moisturising religiously. 

I think my skin hadn't healed enough to be covered 😔

Hoping this comes out not terrible and hopefully it stops hurting/oozing soon. 

 

I don't think it's infected despite being occasionally red if I move a lot, still slightly swollen..i have no chills, fever, and I think its only oozing plasma as therr seems to be a thick layer of it beneath the scab. 

What's y'all thoughts? 

 

Pics are after washing, before moisturising. 

[SStu]

only 6 days in? doesn't look abnormal. 

let us know how it's doing in 3 more weeks. 

[Hogrider]

How old was the original tattoo when you covered it?

I haven't ever had a coverup, but I've never had a tattoo that looked that rough. HOWEVER, as @SStu said, give it some time. It takes 4-6 week to heal, longer if it went in rough. You shouldn't be doing coverups or anything else to a tattoo until it's completely healed.

[Lazarvs]

Yea I'll be waiting and babying it thru. Just bummed it's not healing as I expected and probably gonna be a mess underneath 😔 shits reaaaaaaally crusty, never seen this anywhere before. Feels like I have a choc chip cookie on my arm lol

 

I definetly thought 4 months would've been enough for my skin to be fully healed and ready to coverup, but I don't think it was. Probably gonna wait 6months to a year before I risk going to touch it up if need be. 

It was 4 months old. 

[Lazarvs]

20 hours ago, Hogrider said:

How old was the original tattoo when you covered it?

I haven't ever had a coverup, but I've never had a tattoo that looked that rough. HOWEVER, as @SStu said, give it some time. It takes 4-6 week to heal, longer if it went in rough. You shouldn't be doing coverups or anything else to a tattoo until it's completely healed.

Artist just told me I "probably didn't wash it good enough in that area, hence it created a thicker crust because more plasma accumulated" 

I honestly feel it's bullshit.. I washed and treated it all the same. Everyday it gets crustier. Still tons of plasma leaking from crust fissures. Extremely bummed out. 

 

I replied to your previous comment but forgot to quote so not sure you saw it. New to this forum format. 

 

[Hogrider]

44 minutes ago, Lazarvs said:

Artist just told me I "probably didn't wash it good enough in that area, hence it created a thicker crust because more plasma accumulated" 

I honestly feel it's bullshit.. I washed and treated it all the same. Everyday it gets crustier. Still tons of plasma leaking from crust fissures. Extremely bummed out. 

 

I replied to your previous comment but forgot to quote so not sure you saw it. New to this forum format. 

 

Your artist is full of sh!t. That’s just insulting and that would be the end of any relationship with me. It looks like he worked the sh!t out of it and now isn’t man enough to admit it so he’s blaming you. That’s just weak.

Good luck, just take care of it, give it a couple of months. I’ve seen some pretty rough things wind up healing OK.

[Lazarvs]

36 minutes ago, Hogrider said:

Your artist is full of sh!t. That’s just insulting and that would be the end of any relationship with me. It looks like he worked the sh!t out of it and now isn’t man enough to admit it so he’s blaming you. That’s just weak.

Good luck, just take care of it, give it a couple of months. I’ve seen some pretty rough things wind up healing OK.

I wouldn't even say he went too hard, I genuinely believe my skin hadn't fully healed from the previous tattoo even though I waited 4 months. 

F***ing sucks. I don't even know if it's plausible to get it touched up by someone else (probably with different ink), and taking it safe and waiting a year post superficial healing, I'm certain it'll look like a shitty whole different patch shade of black. Absolutely fuming. How much would you guess I paid for this? 🙃

[Hogrider]

1 hour ago, Lazarvs said:

I wouldn't even say he went too hard, I genuinely believe my skin hadn't fully healed from the previous tattoo even though I waited 4 months. 

F***ing sucks. I don't even know if it's plausible to get it touched up by someone else (probably with different ink), and taking it safe and waiting a year post superficial healing, I'm certain it'll look like a shitty whole different patch shade of black. Absolutely fuming. How much would you guess I paid for this? 🙃

Not to be argumentative, but four months should be enough time to heal and just looking at that skin tells me it's overworked. You really just need to wait and see how it looks. I had one of my sleeves extended about an inch and initially, there were two shades of black ink, but eventually you couldn't tell the difference. 

Can't imagine how much you paid. It doesn't matter how good an artist is, everyone screws up once in a while. The only thing that matters is how good they did YOUR tattoo.

[Lazarvs]

Just now, Hogrider said:

Not to be argumentative, but four months should be enough time to heal and just looking at that skin tells me it's overworked. You really just need to wait and see how it looks. I had one of my sleeves extended about an inch and initially, there were two shades of black ink, but eventually you couldn't tell the difference. 

Can't imagine how much you paid. It doesn't matter how good an artist is, everyone screws up once in a while. The only thing that matters is how good they did YOUR tattoo.

Yea I was under the impression 2-3 months should have been enough even. 

1k at 250€ p/hour. 

Gonna be a looooooooooong couple weeks. 🙃🔫

 

[SStu]

yeah, that tattooist is pushing off his heavy handedness on you. Pure bullshit. 

[mhm2020]

Yeah your skin looks really chewed up to me, I’m so sorry. It’s definitely BS that your artist is telling you that this is due to your aftercare. There is no amount of washing that will make that better. It’s just gonna be a rough heal
 

Here in a couple of months you should be able to tell how it’s settling in. Won’t take a year by any means if you decide to get it touched up by someone else. 

[Beantoo]

just got a message by a friend who send me these thread... I'm a blackwork tattooer...and to be honest it's one of the most difficult technic, cause you have to pack it super solid in large areas, with different "soft/thick" skin...so it's not wondering I'm mostly repairing blackouts... problems like yours can arise for various reasons... could be a voltage/handspeed issue at this area(overworked/traumatized) or he had a "dirty" needle (plasma and vaseline get stuck together with pigment and fills the space between the needles) could also happen it was accidentally touched with dirty hands by a friend/animalnose, got sticked at sleeping(you can't remember)... and i could make the list way longer... WE WON'T FIND OUT ANYMORE... but in the end the crust will switch to scars... sadly there will be no way around... keep it clean and let it heal... If it does not get better in the next few days, you can get cortisone ointment from the pharmacy.
 
BUT! THE GOOD THING!

it can be reworked once the healing is over and the scars are settled down... so you should give it minimum half a year but as i said -IT CAN BE REPAIRED!!
For the next time you should consult an artist who is into blackouts 
 
sadly can't post images, so i can't show you how your scars will be looking and how it is looks after reworking a blackout...
 
 
So here we go...
the first picture will be show how a healed overworked blackout looks like...
 
second/third was around 3 month after reworking by me...

[Lazarvs]

22 hours ago, Beantoo said:

just got a message by a friend who send me these thread... I'm a blackwork tattooer...and to be honest it's one of the most difficult technic, cause you have to pack it super solid in large areas, with different "soft/thick" skin...so it's not wondering I'm mostly repairing blackouts... problems like yours can arise for various reasons... could be a voltage/handspeed issue at this area(overworked/traumatized) or he had a "dirty" needle (plasma and vaseline get stuck together with pigment and fills the space between the needles) could also happen it was accidentally touched with dirty hands by a friend/animalnose, got sticked at sleeping(you can't remember)... and i could make the list way longer... WE WON'T FIND OUT ANYMORE... but in the end the crust will switch to scars... sadly there will be no way around... keep it clean and let it heal... If it does not get better in the next few days, you can get cortisone ointment from the pharmacy.
 
BUT! THE GOOD THING!

it can be reworked once the healing is over and the scars are settled down... so you should give it minimum half a year but as i said -IT CAN BE REPAIRED!!
For the next time you should consult an artist who is into blackouts 
 
sadly can't post images, so i can't show you how your scars will be looking and how it is looks after reworking a blackout...
 
 
So here we go...
the first picture will be show how a healed overworked blackout looks like...
 
second/third was around 3 month after reworking by me...

Hey, thanks for your input! 

 

Here's how it's doing now. About 4 weeks now. Definetly not as bad as I thought it would, but not great either. I'll be waiting to get it fixed later in the year. Good thing is it still looks pretty good even if its pretty shit 😂 live and learn! 

 

This guy has done a couple full arm blackouts too so I really dunno what's up. 

 

It's hard to find someone who has much experience doing this type of work where I live. 

 

Have connected with another artist who has also done it and has decent healed pics, and am waiting on her advice too. 

22 hours ago, Beantoo said:

just got a message by a friend who send me these thread... I'm a blackwork tattooer...and to be honest it's one of the most difficult technic, cause you have to pack it super solid in large areas, with different "soft/thick" skin...so it's not wondering I'm mostly repairing blackouts... problems like yours can arise for various reasons... could be a voltage/handspeed issue at this area(overworked/traumatized) or he had a "dirty" needle (plasma and vaseline get stuck together with pigment and fills the space between the needles) could also happen it was accidentally touched with dirty hands by a friend/animalnose, got sticked at sleeping(you can't remember)... and i could make the list way longer... WE WON'T FIND OUT ANYMORE... but in the end the crust will switch to scars... sadly there will be no way around... keep it clean and let it heal... If it does not get better in the next few days, you can get cortisone ointment from the pharmacy.
 
BUT! THE GOOD THING!

it can be reworked once the healing is over and the scars are settled down... so you should give it minimum half a year but as i said -IT CAN BE REPAIRED!!
For the next time you should consult an artist who is into blackouts 
 
sadly can't post images, so i can't show you how your scars will be looking and how it is looks after reworking a blackout...
 
 
So here we go...
the first picture will be show how a healed overworked blackout looks like...
 
second/third was around 3 month after reworking by me...

Also, for fixing it, do you have to go over the whole thing again, or just the dodgy spots? 

 

How does using different black inks affect it? 

 

Guy wants to touch up in a month or two but yea I don't think my skin will be ready by then lol dya have an instagram I can follow? 🙂

[Beantoo]

Also, for fixing it, do you have to go over the whole thing again, or just the dodgy spots? 
 
How does using different black inks affect it? 
 
Guy wants to touch up in a month or two but yea I don't think my skin will be ready by then lol dya have an instagram I can follow?

Oh yeah way better!
You got a excellent healing skin, as i can see it!
What i classical recommend as the skin is peeled or at your point "closed" you can moisture from now on with almond oil for example, a light oil with vitamin e (vitamin e helps the skin heal and prevents scars)
Before you apply, always try out at another skin part and it is best to apply it on slightly damp skin, this helps to absorb.

For the question about fixing...

Depends on the used ink... some inks have no subtone, some a greenish and the next have a blueish tone... for an example if it was done with panthera ink they have no undertone... as you see there is no golden answer this you need to speak up with your artist and also depends how much black your going to "lose" the next couple month...(shouldn't be much) BUT if you go the second round with the same ink you classically just rework the single spots which should then level out over the following weeks... the girls arm i reworked we had to do the whole arm, depends...

If you don't feel ready for a touch up or might be still a bit insecure then - it's simple...

IT'S NOT YOUR TIME - LISTEN TO YOUR BODY IT KNOWS! :)

But please also be respectful with the lifetime of the artist and give him enough lead time if you have done an appointment

Hope i got it all



IG: Beantoo_ttt

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[faizan]

Hi, I think got similar problem, like yours , but after 4 weeks it was looking alot better, can you plz let me know for those for weeks , what you used any cream and no moisturizer?

[Hogrider]

9 minutes ago, faizan said:

Hi, I think got similar problem, like yours , but after 4 weeks it was looking alot better, can you plz let me know for those for weeks , what you used any cream and no moisturizer?

That is rough. Don’t let whoever did that near you again. You don’t need fancy or special creams, just use plain cocoa butter. Not too much, just enough to keep it from drying out. Too little is better than too much.