Tegaderm/Saniderm/Tatuderm healing process

[LizBee]

I'm thinking this is from removal, like a pulling injury to the skin. Do you think it is related, or does the film come away easily?

Also, I'm sure you protect the tattoo, especially new ones, from the sun (sun HURTS on a new tattoo!) but sun exposure to inflamed skin stimulates melanocytes, or pigment cells, and if you have sun exposure to any wound while it is in the healing process it will pick up pigment that will be permanent. Probably not from that, but thought I'd put that out there as a PSA, lol

[CABS]

I'm thinking this is from removal, like a pulling injury to the skin. Do you think it is related, or does the film come away easily?

Also, I'm sure you protect the tattoo, especially new ones, from the sun (sun HURTS on a new tattoo!) but sun exposure to inflamed skin stimulates melanocytes, or pigment cells, and if you have sun exposure to any wound while it is in the healing process it will pick up pigment that will be permanent. Probably not from that, but thought I'd put that out there as a PSA, lol

It could be from removal perhaps. I do take it off in the shower everytime though. Or maybe there was that one time I didn't? Haha, I forget.

Def not the sun reason because those spots I attached are near my armpit and back of thigh. Those spots never see the sun, haha.

Thanks for the insight, LizBee!

[LizBee]

When removing any of the -derms, pull it in line with the skin, not away from the skin, kind of like when you remove those 3M "Command" hooks adhesive from the wall. If you pull it straight in line down with the wall it pulls off without damage, but if you try to pull it AWAY from the wall you'll damage the drywall. The -derm film is similar to that, and if possible grasp both sides of the film and pull apart, like stretching a rubber band, and it will lift off the skin, just like the wall hook adhesive.

My problem this time was that it was on my arm, so I needed someone to do it for me in the parts that weren't already starting to peel. Where it wanted to stick I used coconut oil and worked it into the skin and it slid off. I use this stuff at work so that's how I know a few tricks!

[Dan]

See attached.

Like I said, I'm not too concerned, because at the end of the day it will all get covered in tattoos at some point.

*I don't know how to mention people on this forum. =(

yep ! that has happened to me and has always healed and gone away.

[UglyButProud]

I've also infrequently had the red outline from the edge of the film. Too me, the film has reacted in that manner on spots that moved or rubbed more than flat areas. top of my inner arm/arm pit and arm ditch had somewhat of the rash effect after a few days with the -derm on. I was pretty active in warm weather for the 3-4 days the film was on my arm pit area. The rash was really only noticeable when the -derm was removed and went away in a couple of days.

I also notice more of a reaction when I've used Tatu-derm from a 6" wide roll. I've also used Tegaderm and Saniderm brands without incident.

@LizBee also has some great insight about removal.

[xcom]

@CABS,

Something similar just happen to me. Mine took a huge chunk of flesh from removing it, If you leave just a tad of soap residue which is what I think happen to me, It will act as bonding agent with the saniderm glue and cause the skin to rip. They have a big warning about this. Lesson learned. :D But yes that will go away at least it has in the past :)

[rufio]

Yesterday i got tatooed in greece. I talked to the artist and he let me use the tegaderm. When we were done he wrapped my in sarin wrap. I walked home to my hotel room which is only 15 minutes but since it was 30 celsius the wrap had started to come loose. Time was around 20:00. My plan was to sleep with the wrap and put on the derm the next morning. I didnt have any sarin wrap myself which is really stupid of me.

In the next 2 hours i got sick.. Shit. Here i was in some hotel room, puking my guts out with a loose wrap. I knew i had to get sleep because i was leaving with the plane the next day. And there was no way that wrap would stay on during the night. I decided to wash the tattoo and put on the derm. I guess my question is, how fucked am i?

Ps, the needle hurts more than i thought. More, fuck me, more.

Edit; i know im breaking the rule; thou shall not worry about fresh tattoos.

I just like to hear your opinions

Edited August 21, 2015 by rufio
Extra info

[Dan]

Yesterday i got tatooed in greece. I talked to the artist and he let me use the tegaderm. When we were done he wrapped my in sarin wrap. I walked home to my hotel room which is only 15 minutes but since it was 30 celsius the wrap had started to come loose. Time was around 20:00. My plan was to sleep with the wrap and put on the derm the next morning. I didnt have any sarin wrap myself which is really stupid of me.

In the next 2 hours i got sick.. Shit. Here i was in some hotel room, puking my guts out with a loose wrap. I knew i had to get sleep because i was leaving with the plane the next day. And there was no way that wrap would stay on during the night. I decided to wash the tattoo and put on the derm. I guess my question is, how fucked am i?

Ps, the needle hurts more than i thought. More, fuck me, more.

Edit; i know im breaking the rule; thou shall not worry about fresh tattoos.

I just like to hear your opinions

since it was a couple hours,it should be fine IMO,if it starts to build up fluid under the tagaderm then just remove it and wash with anti-microbial soap and apply an new sheet as soon as you can when you land.

[rufio]

since it was a couple hours,it should be fine IMO,if it starts to build up fluid under the tagaderm then just remove it and wash with anti-microbial soap and apply an new sheet as soon as you can when you land.

Heey thanks. Now a day further and there is some leaking but it is very minimal since its only outline. Ill upload another pic when i get home in an hour or so.

Edit,

Hello stinkybut. I got home quite late (train delays etc) and decided not to take off the derm. Since it was a full day further i figured it would do more harm than good. There was only minimal leaking and my skin looked very calm. No pain, no itching.

Heres a picture of how it looks now.

[L2DB]

Tattoo done late Monday afternoon. Applied tegaderm Tuesday AM after standard wash, dry, etc. I was hoping to leave it on until after my indoor soccer game tomorrow night (taking off when I shower afterwards), but the Tegaderm is starting to peel back on some of the edges (not sure if I put on poorly or it is just a lot of movement (bicep) that is working it loose.

What's my move now? Take it off and go with traditional methods? Take it off and reapply new Tegaderm? Leave it as is?

[rufio]

Tattoo done late Monday afternoon. Applied tegaderm Tuesday AM after standard wash, dry, etc. I was hoping to leave it on until after my indoor soccer game tomorrow night (taking off when I shower afterwards), but the Tegaderm is starting to peel back on some of the edges (not sure if I put on poorly or it is just a lot of movement (bicep) that is working it loose.

What's my move now? Take it off and go with traditional methods? Take it off and reapply new Tegaderm? Leave it as is?

You could put new pieces of film over the edges to keep it from peeling. Thats what I did on a few spots and it works quite well. Not sure how it will held up when you get sweaty from your soccer game though.

I am a beginner with this stuff keep that in mind.

[LizBee]

@L2DB, I can tell you that the edges might peel up a bit, or look like the whole thing is going to peel up, but probably it won't. I have even taken tiny scissors and trimmed the peeled-up edges off to get rid of them while I leave the whole thing in place for the proper amount of time, since the peeling edges can be tempting to fiddle with (don't). This is only if it is not close to the edges of the actual ink, then follow the advice of @rufio and apply another piece.

In general, keeping this stuff on is the goal, ignoring it and not messing with it is going to give you the best results. This is a hard one for me, since I tend to fuss with things and can't leave them be, but it is absolutely worth it in this case.

[Bigboy67]

Damn, have t been here in a long time, glad my thread has kept itself going. Still using tegaderm on any and all tattoos.... A few reminders/bullshit I've picked up along the way.

Definitely out extra pieces on if the edges start to curl, or instead of wasting tegaderm you can just use a few strips of medical tape to hold on...

Do not take off and reapply , REALLY bad decision...

If you aren't super sketched out by trying this, don't! You'll drive the price of tegaderm up for the rest of us ...

Do NOT use bactine or anything similar as a topical prior to putting on the tegaderm, the ingredients in bactine reduce the effectiveness of the glue on the sheets...

Have fun, happy healing!

- - - Updated - - -

Oh another tip.... Stop putting this shit on RIGHT after your appointment!!!! I don't know who started this horrible advice, but that's what it is, shit advice. Wait until you're done with the initial plasma push, then shower, clean, apply tegaderm.

My plasma push usually is all done within about 6 hours... I get a clean and wrap from artist, San and rewrP for bed short after, then do tegaderm in the AM

- - - Updated - - -

And I've got about 60 hours needle time that's been covered using this method, this isn't just guessing

[LizBee]

I'm pretty sure I've gone through this entire thread before and don't think this has come up, but correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm a huge fan of Tegaderm and will always use it from now on, and this most recent time is no different, but on the 3rd day in I noticed a foul smell, like chemical/mildew. I thought it was the sweater I was wearing, and took it off, wadded it up and smelled it, but no, that wasn't it, so I hung the sweater on the back of my chair and continued on with what I was doing. I turned my head and could smell it again, like it was the sweater. I flung the thing off into the corner. I turned my head again and again smelled it. WTF? After a while I realized it was my TATTOO, on my left shoulder. The Tegaderm was intact, with nothing leaking from any edge, so the smell was coming through the breathable film.

I used the Tegaderm as usual, which means I kept saran wrap on it the first night, washed it the next morning, dried it, applied the -derm and went on my merry way, with no drainage, practically no pain (mild sunburn feeling), able to sleep on that shoulder right away, and the knowledge that after 4 days I could remove it and peel the color, and the tattoo would be virtually healed.

I tried to ignore the smell but, folks, I just could not. It really, really smelled like strong mildew mixed with a chemical smell. The colored ink, maybe? This is a very, very colorful tattoo. This recent work was 2 hours of color after outlining done a month ago. I don't recall other tattoos having an odor, but they are all on other parts of my body, not so close to my face, lol.

I wound up removing the Tegaderm early and I'll just let it heal the usual way the rest of the time - I considered putting more on for another day or two but the stuff is expensive and I want to save it for my next work.

Anybody had this experience with stank?

[9Years]

Yes, I have experienced the stank. I usually "feel" when it's time for me to remove the 'derm, and the smell usually precedes the "get this off of me right now" feeling...don't believe the hype that you have to keep it on for blahblahblah....

[kelzu]

I have used Tegaderm in the past post surgery, with no issues as I recall. That was on my ankle. After 3 days with derm on my thigh, I have a nasty looking rash. Heat rash I guess?

Just wanted to chime in to say maybe testing on different areas of the body may give different results.

Bummer for me though :(

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[UglyButProud]

Anybody had this experience with stank?

Yep...my foot/ankle is stinking as I type this. In all the past times using the -derm I've detected a an "off" odor coming from it, especially the closer it is to my nose, but nothing like yesterday....

I got my latest work early Saturday, put on the -derm (after washing/drying etc.) about 12 hours later. I put it on waaayy past the edges of the tattoo because of the non-flat, bendy location (lower shin/ankle ditch/top of foot) to make sure it was going to stay on. There was some fluid build up but not any more or less than usual. Everything seemed/felt great when I went to work Monday morning and I wore flip flops to make sure I didn't aggravate anything. I had a long client meeting I had to sit through and make a couple quick presentations during the meeting.

About 15 minutes before I had to stand and present, I started smelling something slightly foul, like dirty feet, sour milk, possibly a crust kids jacket???? I looked down and there was a small blackish milky puddle under my foot on the floor, the same foot that had been tattooed about 48 hours before. Yep, the build up decided to leak out on the very bottom edge under my ankle bone a close to my heel. I didn't notice until the smell hit my nose.......

Luckily, I had a few napkins sitting under my coffee cup that I quickly threw on the floor over the puddle. I excused myself to use the bathroom and run to my office to grab some medical tape to secure the edge where the leak had occurred. No big deal as it was 2" away from the tattoo.

I'm not sure any of the other 6 people that were sitting in the same room with me smelled what I did, at least none of my co-workers said anything.... Now I'm constantly checking the area to make sure it's not leaking (it's not) but I can't shake the thought of the tattoo and -derm smelling (it is).

So as far as "stank".... yep, whatever healing juices your body produces aren't too far from other natural smells it makes, usually/mostly - not very pleasant!

[SeeSea]

@UglyButProud - oh boy what a story. Hopefully no one else smelled it, but if you are in an environment where you can wear flip flops to a client meeting, maybe you'll get a pass.

[LizBee]

I had a doctor's appointment before I figured out what was causing the smell, and was wearing the sweater (this is when I decided it was the sweater at fault) and was getting my BP measured, on the opposite arm, of course, and I'm POSITIVE she could smell that smell, but, what can you say? "Oh, that funky smell? That's just my new tattoo - not me!" I did tell her I needed her to use my other arm to check my blood pressure because I had a new tattoo, so she knew, but I don't think people would think of a tattoo as being a smelly thing - I sure didn't and I'm not new to this!

Removing the Tegaderm a day and a half early didn't cause any problems, of course, and I had the usual slow peel, rather than the "insta-peel" that I have when I'm able to leave the -derm film on longer.

So, is the smell a product of the film, or the ink? If it is from the ink, does colored ink smell worse than a black and grey tattoo? Again, my experience with tattoos has been on my ankles so a smelly new tattoo is new to me. My own smelly arm tattoo has a ton of color so I'm blaming that, but maybe a B&G tattoo healed the normal way would stink just as much.

[UglyButProud]

I've had injuries/scrapes in the past and noticed the healing had an off smell, especially if there was any hint if infection. As gross as it sounds, the smell may just be our bodies "healing magic" intensified by being covered in an almost airtight covering. Although it's apples and oranges, I would compare it to wearing the same shoes/socks for 4 days straight without taking them off....

When I removed the -derm from my recent tattoo this morning (about 80 hours covered), it was pretty smelly. I use Dr. Bronners pure castille citrus soup for the first wash and post -derm washes, which has a pleasent lemony smell. I washed the area 3 times thoroughly and there was still a detectable odor. My wife even commented " what smells like lemon/stinky feet??".

I really don't think it's the ink that is causing the funk but can't be too sure. I would be interested to hear others experience with "stank" and the -derm and whether it was better or worse depending on the area or type of tattoo (color vs. b&g etc.)

At the end of the day, I'll take stank/-derm over the other healing methods as it works great for me.....

[JJMarie]

I had a doctor's appointment before I figured out what was causing the smell, and was wearing the sweater (this is when I decided it was the sweater at fault) and was getting my BP measured, on the opposite arm, of course, and I'm POSITIVE she could smell that smell, but, what can you say? "Oh, that funky smell? That's just my new tattoo - not me!" I did tell her I needed her to use my other arm to check my blood pressure because I had a new tattoo, so she knew, but I don't think people would think of a tattoo as being a smelly thing - I sure didn't and I'm not new to this!

Removing the Tegaderm a day and a half early didn't cause any problems, of course, and I had the usual slow peel, rather than the "insta-peel" that I have when I'm able to leave the -derm film on longer.

So, is the smell a product of the film, or the ink? If it is from the ink, does colored ink smell worse than a black and grey tattoo? Again, my experience with tattoos has been on my ankles so a smelly new tattoo is new to me. My own smelly arm tattoo has a ton of color so I'm blaming that, but maybe a B&G tattoo healed the normal way would stink just as much.

... I don't think this can be the Tegaderm... Depending on how you had it wrapped it could be that something got into into it, I've used it twice, both for 2-3 days & never had an issue with the smell, some plasma & colour leaks yeah but never a "funky" smell, my artist used it right after the tattoo was finished both times after thoroughly cleaning it though... I know some use it after the fact when they get home & if that's the case it's definitely possible something got into it before you bandaged it or it wasn't clean enough before you wrapped it .. I personally find keeping it on for 2-3 days helps you to avoid infection & makes it easier to care for during the most critical healing time .. might wanna get it checked just to be safe though by now you probably already know if there was an issue with infection.

[LizBee]

@JJMarie, yes, the dressing was definitely the source, not sure if it was the combo of the dressing and the ink, or just the ink - there was no infection whatsoever. The tattoo healed beautifully, and I just took the -derm off about a day early, so it was really just about done anyway. Once I removed the dressing it was the dressing (I sniffed it once off my arm) that stunk, and my actual arm didn't, even before I washed it. This made me think it was some kind of reaction of the ink and the adhesive of the -derm, combined with the small amount of plasma that would have been produced after the -derm was applied. I applied it the second day, after most of the plasma was done, after washing and patting dry.

My other colorful tattoo did not get the stink, to my knowledge (it was on my ankle) but it was a different artist, and different inks. Could be that some inks have a smell, and others don't, or who knows what! It definitely had a chemically smell to it on top of the "funky" smell. I'll be going back for more in November so I'm interested to see if a similar thing happens. I'll definitely post back here! I wonder, though, if sunscreen or something that I was using on the non-Tegaderm part of my arm maybe got into the dressing and contributed to the stink - I avoid putting anything on the -derm, but it could be that when I was applying lotion or sunscreen to the rest of my arm some got on an edge, and maybe that reacted. Who knows! I'll pay better attention next time.

Also, this is a truly MINOR thing, and not bothersome enough to not use the -derm, by any means. It makes my life SO MUCH EASIER, I can't begin to tell you. Not having to worry about the fresh tattoo is so wonderful. No mess, no protecting it from sheets or clothing, I can sleep on the limb like normal, etc. It is great, and I'll put up with stink if I have to! We'll see what happens next time.

[rufio]

Ello. I will have a session on monday and tuesday on the same area. Im planning to use derm on wednesday. Can dern be aplied so late on some parts or will they be too far in the healing process?

[21stNow]

I wanted to share my experience with using Saniderm (8"x11 yd. roll) while healing the tattoo shown above.

I got the tattoo on Saturday, finishing up on Saturday evening. The artist cleaned the area and applied the Saniderm at the shop. We used a piece on each shoulder, a piece in the middle and one piece on each side to connect the shoulder and middle areas. There were also cuts made to accommodate the curves of the skin in the middle of my chest. I left this bandage until Sunday evening (a little over 24 hours). There was some ink leakage. I immediately noticed that I barely felt any pain on Saturday night. Normally, I am sore in the tattooed area for about 30-36 hours after it is finished. I removed the first bandage in the shower. It was full of ink and came off as easier than I expected under warm running water.

I placed the second bandage on after I got out of the shower and patted the tattoo dry. I didn't use any ointments or moisturizers. Monday, I felt great. Tuesday, I started to notice a smell (like the beginning of mildew growth) and also started to itch under the bandage. Wednesday, I tried to take extra care to pat the bandage dry once I got out of the shower. The scent was still there, but not quite as strong as the day before. The itching was getting worse, however. Thursday morning, I removed the bandage in the shower under running water. This hurt a bit more than the Sunday removal hurt, but it wasn't a high level of pain. There had been a small amount of ink leakage just about every day for the second bandage.

I went on to use Hustle Butter three times on Thursday. I noticed around five small areas of peeling, but that was it. I feel some raised/somewhat hard areas in the outline of the flowers on my shoulders, but this is in line with what I normally feel on healing tattoos except when using normal methods, the raised areas are throughout the majority of the tattoo. I haven't had the flaking that I normally have during healing, so I think that I have skipped that stage. I have also noticed a rash (several bumps) in the middle of my chest. I hope that this heals soon!

It is Friday now and I am still using Hustle Butter on the tattoo. I normally don't itch when I use Hustle Butter and don't use numbing gel during the tattoo. However, I do have some itching even after I removed the bandage and started the Hustle Butter routine.

Overall, my pros would be that there was much less pain after the tattoo was over (big pro), I didn't have to tend to the tattoo throughout the first four days, and I didn't have to worry about ink stains on clothes. The cons would be the smell, the itch, the rash and how hard it is to get the edges to stay down on areas that bend or curve.

I plan to try Tegaderm next time. I have the 4"x4" sheets of this already. Depending on how the rash heals, I may try Saniderm again if I don't see much of a difference between Tegaderm and Saniderm. Even with the cons, so far I think that this is better than what I was doing before.

[sora777]

Is the saniderm stuff essentially the same stuff as the dermalize pro stuff? it seems to be the exact same thing except I can't find dermalize in the states.