Is your tattoo infected and aftercare FAQ

[smiling.politely]

So I'm kinda curious about something. I just got my first tattoo yesterday and I went to a very reputable shop here in town. I just did the outline since it's so big. He did not put anything on it when I left, and as far as aftercare instruction, the only thing he told me was to wash it at least twice a day with anti-bacterial soap. But I did a google search on aftercare and everyone says you should be putting some type of ointment or lotion on it, and that "dry healing" is old school. What say you?

Linework is generally very easy to heal. At most, if you have itching, a tiny amount of lotion might be helpful. Ointment/lotion is really more for when you have large areas of tattooed skin, and even then, not much is needed. Your body will heal it on it's own if it's clean, anything you put on it is just to keep it comfortable for you, or to keep it from getting overly dry.

[clemsonscj]

Linework is generally very easy to heal. At most, if you have itching, a tiny amount of lotion might be helpful. Ointment/lotion is really more for when you have large areas of tattooed skin, and even then, not much is needed. Your body will heal it on it's own if it's clean, anything you put on it is just to keep it comfortable for you, or to keep it from getting overly dry.

Ok. My guy told me it would take about a week to peel and everything and be ready to start filling in. Does that sound about right?

[PaulRead]

Ok. My guy told me it would take about a week to peel and everything and be ready to start filling in. Does that sound about right?

It's all on you, but in my opinion you need to be careful.

[AuntTudie]

My artist requires 3 weeks between sessions. Unless it is a very large piece where you can skip to a different area. As far as ointment goes. Everyone has an opinion. Mine is it doesn't really matter if you dry heal or use ointment. To much ointment is not good. So none is better than too much.

[leggon]

Yesterday I got my first tattoo on forearm. Today it look a little bit worse. I know, that tattoo need to heal and the peal. But I dont know how it looks like peeling tattoo :D In my tattoo white dots looks like simple yellow, and some parts of tattoo are rised. I dont know how to explain it. It is normal?

[Colored Guy]

I had two tattoos recently not heal well in some areas, both looked close to being infected. One was towards my elbow ditch and the other on the opposite arm low on the inner bicep. The skin was actually cracked.

I did follow the after-care instructions as I always do. No pus or anything, just took a long time to heal completely. Now after a couple of weeks, both areas look perfect, line work and color are fine.

- - - Updated - - -

Yesterday I got my first tattoo on forearm. Today it look a little bit worse. I know, that tattoo need to heal and the peal. But I dont know how it looks like peeling tattoo :D In my tattoo white dots looks like simple yellow, and some parts of tattoo are rised. I dont know how to explain it. It is normal?

More than likely, what you see is normal. And don't be surprised if it goes for a 2nd peel, but much lighter.

[dmon19]

I have a tattoo of Gunter the penguin from the show adventure time... I got it on the inside of my arm I guess my forearm... Around April 2015. I did everything the artist told me to do, but it's still raised and the colours are very spotty in some places. Should I get it redone?

[sfvoyager]

Hello I just had a general question I apologize in advance if I sound ignorant about the healing process of a new tattoo but just trying to get some general information as this is my first tattoo.

I had my 3rd session last Saturday which was black and gray shading done to previous session outline work. I then was re-scheduled to come back in the following Friday 6 days later to do additional new outline and color work on my shoulder area to complete the tattoo which has not been inked yet so it was considered new ink on new skin. I take about 14 days to fully heal give or take.

(My question) - For the most part can a poorly healed tattoo be touched up and fixed to look the way it should be? I'm not talking poorly healed from an infection but if dead skin was peeled off prematurely prior to it falling off on it's own? This happened on my 4th session cause my artist had to continue to wipe excess ink that would spread around the new outline and color work he was doing on the new skin. So he would have to use a paper towel to wipe it off last week's work which would in result peel some of the dead skin off that was just about to get into the peeling stage. I asked my artist if it was ok with him doing that and he said it was fine since the tattoo is already week into the healing stage and the pores were already closed. It just looked really bad when he was doing it lol since I know your not supposed to really peel that stuff off like that.

He said will do touch up's for free if worst case it does not heal correctly. I'm just concerned that if by doing what he did would cause permanent damage to the image of the tattoo to the point of not fixable? Or for the most part a touch up in most cases can usually correct poorly healed tattoos so as long as if it was not poorly healed from an infection?

Appreciate any feedback and apologize once again for the newbie questions, I've invested lot of money into this so want to make sure everything is ok. I did not post a pic cause right now its peeling everywhere so you really can't tell what it's going to look like once its fully healed. Perhaps this question is a bit pre-mature and I apologize for that as well.

[Transcendence]

What types of care can be done for an infected tattoo? I have a tattoo that is 7 days old and has a Cellulitis infection. I went to the urgent care a couple days ago and was prescribed Cipro. It's looking much better now but probably gonna turn out to be a little messed up since there were a few spots where the skin had split before I realized it was infected. I've kept it dry since going to urgent care so just wondering if there is anything else I can do so it heals as good as possible so touch ups can be done and so it's not completely trashed. There is more info on the tattoo and how I got the infection in my Initiation Post if you'd like to read it, pretty long though haha

[Linda Miller]

Hi, I have a great item that helps heal a new tattoo and was trying to list in sale stuff on your site but that area is not working for me to list the item.

Thank you,

Linda

[Dan]

56 minutes ago, Linda Miller said:

Hi, I have a great item that helps heal a new tattoo and was trying to list in sale stuff on your site but that area is not working for me to list the item.

Thank you,

Linda

those parameters are set in place to prevent bonehead spammers from posting useless spam links here on this site.  Linda,I'm sure you understand and agree with this policy.I am sure you dislike bonehead spammers as much as we do,seeing from your avatar how you are such a hot cool chick with no tattoos ! 

Edited August 18, 2016 by Dan

[mtlsam]

14 minutes ago, Dan said:

those parameters are set in place to prevent bonehead spammers from posting useless spam links here on this site.  Linda,I'm sure you understand and agree with this policy.I am sure you dislike bonehead spammers as much as we do,seeing from your avatar how you are such a hot cool chick with no tattoos ! 

You sir win the internet for this day! Congratulations :)

[Jkeith]

Can't start my own topic as of yet. Day 5 and my tattoo seems pretty aggravated. Don't think it's infected, looks to be more dry and aggravated. Thoughts?

[bongsau]

Looks pretty thick and dry. It's only Day 5, give it another 1 or 2 weeks. If the surrounding skin starts getting red and inflamed, stop using lotion on it. The hair follicles might get a little irritated too if it's on your leg if you use too much goop. Remember you only nead a pea drop to deal with the dryness, don't over moisturize.

[Jkeith]

1 hour ago, bongsau said:

Looks pretty thick and dry. It's only Day 5, give it another 1 or 2 weeks. If the surrounding skin starts getting red and inflamed, stop using lotion on it. The hair follicles might get a little irritated too if it's on your leg if you use too much goop. Remember you only nead a pea drop to deal with the dryness, don't over moisturize.

Thanks the reply! Whats funny is that's just my wolf like fur on the underside of my forearm, lol. 

Ive noticed it's not red in the morning. It's mostly after I wash it and apply curel or hustle butter. But I'll make sure and use less.

I'm sure it's normal, but it's my first tattoo, but whenever I pat it dry I get a clear mirror image of the line work of my tattoo on the paper towel. Pretty normal for day 5?

 

[bongsau]

Every tattoo and every body heals a bit different. A lot of variables.

I've had lots of tattoos made and some heal in a few days, some take weeks. Note this is superficial healing, the real healing of the body takes place over several weeks.

I don't even use lotion anymore (dry heal) because my skin gets irritated and I find that's what works to me. Just leave the tattoo alone and keep it clean, don't put too much balm or lotion on it. Whatever you think is the bare minimum cut that in half !

Doesn't look infected at all, your arm (not leg haha) isnt' going to fall off and the tattoo is in there. Just give it time and don't stress. We've seen waaaaay worse in person and on the internet and you're looking fine bud.

Congrats on popping your tattoo-cherry and welcome to slippery slope of dermal illustrations ;)

[Jkeith]

Thanks again! Just going to let it dry heal and keep it clean a ton this point. I've got another larger tattoo getting done Friday. Probably a four hour session or longer it looks like. 

[Devious6]

Don't over clean it, either. Twice a day should be fine - I like to use Dial Gold - and pat it dry with a clean paper towel each time you wash it. I then use just a very small amount of Aveno.

[Jkeith]

Thanks again everyone I appreciate it. It flared up pretty bad tonight, no red past the line work. Went red around the lines and the areas there was no ink. Skin all went light red and it is slowly going back to normal. I'm wondering if I didn't get into something around the house that caused it to do that. 

[Baboom]

So here's my final weigh in on my first experience with tegaderm/saniderm. As I stated earlier, it became clear early on that saniderm wasn't up to par. I replaced the saniderm with tegaderm a day after getting tattooed. I had some reservations on reapplying anything from what I had read on this thread however I was left with little choice. I showered and removed the saniderm; once out of the shower I dried with fresh paper towels directly on the tattoo then let air dry for 5-10 minutes before applying the tegaderm. After applying tegaderm. After having it on overnight I saw no change to the tattoo or surrounding skin. Four days later I removed the tegaderm revealing a beautifully in-process heal. I have attached a photo of the tegaderm I removed. As you can see there was a layer of skin/ink that came along. 

I highly recommend Tegaderm if the area calls for it. I did't use any tegaderm on my sleeve for a multitude of reasons. The first was simply due to the financial burden of buying large quantities and having to apply it over the weeks my sleeve was in process. I don't believe the end result is any different regardless of which healing route you take. I can definitely say tegaderm greatly reduces the peel and heal time. 

Hope this information helps out. Stay stoked and get great tattoos

Cheers

[ocdcollector]

i got these all over my leg after it was recently touched up on a few days back.

any idea what these are called?

[scottyg]

@Flied they're probably just clogged pores from over moisturizing. lotion should be the thinnest layer. the skin needs to breathe.

[Flora&Sons]

Anyone ever have a toddler puke on a fresh, 2 day old tattoo? I washed the area with mild soap and water, any other disinfection required?

[Devious6]

6 hours ago, Flora&Sons said:

Anyone ever have a toddler puke on a fresh, 2 day old tattoo? I washed the area with mild soap and water, any other disinfection required?

Personally, I use a scent-free anti-bacterial soap to wash during the first two weeks of healing before switching back to my "usual." At this point, though, the important thing is to keep it clean, not over-moisturize if you're using it to help heal, and watch your tattoo for any signs of infection. Odds are, you'll be fine. 

[Makmak]

Hey new to this site, I just got a new tattoo 2 days ago, last night I put cream on it and went to bed, when I woke up my shirt was stuck to it, stupidly I tried to peel it off slowly, now the area is extreamly red and some areas look like I pulled the skin off, it almost looks cut in some spots, just wondering if I totally messed it up and if anyone as any suggestions of what to do. Thanks