tattoo ink dripping

[Tesseracts]

I just got my first tattoo yesterday, and now the ink is dripping. I've read stuff about how tattoos heal but haven't heard any mention of dripping. This morning I sprayed bactine on it because it hurts and I didn't want it to get infected. Then I wrapped it in saran wrap for a couple hours because I didn't want it to rub on my clothes. I took it off when I realized it was dripping. I guess I should have left it alone. My artist only told me to take the wrap off after an hour and not use soap. I'm trying to ask him about it in email, but he just repeated what he told me yesterday. I'm not sure if his English is good enough for him to understand that I want to know if dripping ink is normal.

What should I do? Is this going to heal badly? I tried using a paper towel on it, but more ink just came off. Here is what it looks like. Some parts have gotten blurry and I want to avoid it healing like this.

I circled the part where black ink was definitely dripping.

[DevilMan]

Looks normal to me, just regular wound fluids. I normally put on saran wrap for the first night and the wrap is usually pretty soaked in the morning.

Don't worry, just give it a wash a couple of times a day and leave it alone as much as possible, you'll be fine :)

[hogg]

What @DevilMan said. It's perfectly normal for tattoos to hurt for a few days afterward (and feel like a sunburn for about a week).

[Cork]

Under saran wrap you get puss, sweat, etc... No worries!

Odd that he said don't use soap, but eh, I'm sure it's fine. If the black ink were dripping, it would be black running down your leg and not wound colored.

[Tesseracts]

Under saran wrap you get puss, sweat, etc... No worries!

Odd that he said don't use soap, but eh, I'm sure it's fine. If the black ink were dripping, it would be black running down your leg and not wound colored.

This photo doesn't make it clear, but the ink was slightly black in color. When I put a paper towel on it, yellow ink came off. When I took the saran wrap off there were also drops of yellow ink on it. Is that normal?

I just washed it briefly in the shower, I'm going to wait for it to dry and just put on jeans like normal.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't know if this is relevant but I scar weird sometimes. I get raised bumps, which is more common with black people but I'm white. I don't think it's bad enough to cause an issue with the tattoo, but I'm not sure.

[DevilMan]

Like I said earlier, its just normal wound fluids, there will be some ink in it, but nothing to worry about.

The saran wrap i take off the next morning also have 'black' fluid in it, and when we start with color the fluid will also have some color probably..

Even a day later i have some small black stains in my bed sheets, even though the tattoo was dry during the day.

Again, don't worry, the tattoo looks fine.

[heathenist]

Nothing to worry about, just keep it clean and let it do it's thing.

[Killercook76]

yeah nothing to worry about you will have some ink mixing with body fluids. This usually last like a day or so. Totally normal!

- - - Updated - - -

This photo doesn't make it clear, but the ink was slightly black in color. When I put a paper towel on it, yellow ink came off. When I took the saran wrap off there were also drops of yellow ink on it. Is that normal?

I just washed it briefly in the shower, I'm going to wait for it to dry and just put on jeans like normal.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't know if this is relevant but I scar weird sometimes. I get raised bumps, which is more common with black people but I'm white. I don't think it's bad enough to cause an issue with the tattoo, but I'm not sure.

maybe it is caused by too much ointment .. keep the plastic on for only a day. When you start switching to lotion don't over do it. Less is more.

[Fala]

I wouldn't worry about it - leave it alone, do not put too much ointment on it (should seem like you are barely putting any on), do not re-wrap with plastic wrap, above all: do not freak out - what you are experiencing looks/sounds totally normal for the first couple of days.

[MadeIndelible]

Everyone freaks out about the healing of their first tattoo. The dripping is just plasma from the tattooed area that is carrying excess ink away. After that it will dry out and you'll notice a softening of the tattoo colors.

[Matthew Thomas]

I just got a grim reaper from elbow to wrist, and I tried something new. As soon as I got home after it was done, I put ice on it to reduce the swelling. I also used ice later that night and the next day as well. I never covered it with anything, not even gauze at the shop. I am washing it twice a day with antibacterial soap and applying a very thin layer of aftercare solution, only after washing it. The rest of the time, I keep it as dry as possible. The ice is in a plastic bag, and I use a paper towel over the plastic bag as well. I didn't even let it get wet in the shower. Very little ink leaking, a very small amount of black ink only once or twice on the towel I used to pat it dry after washing it. No ink on my bed clothes either. It's been 5 days since I had the tattoo done.

[jgarr610]

I've kind of been wondering the same thing.. I just got the insides of my pinkies done this past Friday. The other pinky has a heart and this one says "xo". I'm worried that it looks like it's blown out. You can see the sharp lines which look great but it's grey and cloudy along the outside of it.. but only on this finger and now the other. I've read a few other things that said this happened to people on their palms but that it just went away? It's got me a little worried.

[emmkej]

Can someone here tell me if I messed up or not? I´m really worried. I left my tattoo wrapped in saran wrap for 20 hours. I woke up and I realized I was sweating a lot, no air logically under the wrap. Then I went to pat it dry with paper towel and there were specks of ink all over it. I´m afraid my sweating lifted the ink. My tattoo looks the same but I´m really afraid that I affected it´s darkness. Will it be faded if I lost some ink? I know it´s normal for skin to release some ink, but since I had it wrapped for so long?

[Hogrider]

On March 25, 2014 at 4:08 PM, jgarr610 said:

 I've kind of been wondering the same thing.. I just got the insides of my pinkies done this past Friday. The other pinky has a heart and this one says "xo". I'm worried that it looks like it's blown out. You can see the sharp lines which look great but it's grey and cloudy along the outside of it.. but only on this finger and now the other. I've read a few other things that said this happened to people on their palms but that it just went away? It's got me a little worried.

You won't know anything until it heals. I think that's on some really thin skin and more prone to blow outs. When you think of all the variables involved in tattooing, it's easy to understand why all tattoos aren't perfect.

[Dan]

2 hours ago, emmkej said:

Can someone here tell me if I messed up or not? I´m really worried. I left my tattoo wrapped in saran wrap for 20 hours. I woke up and I realized I was sweating a lot, no air logically under the wrap. Then I went to pat it dry with paper towel and there were specks of ink all over it. I´m afraid my sweating lifted the ink. My tattoo looks the same but I´m really afraid that I affected it´s darkness. Will it be faded if I lost some ink? I know it´s normal for skin to release some ink, but since I had it wrapped for so long?

sounds perfectly normal to me.

so keep it clean now,keep it out of the sun,and either  use use a very light coat of Aquafor a couple times a day or  a daily moisturiser like Aveeno fragrance free.

should be just fine.

Edited November 28, 2017 by Dan

[Hogrider]

2 hours ago, emmkej said:

Can someone here tell me if I messed up or not? I´m really worried. I left my tattoo wrapped in saran wrap for 20 hours. I woke up and I realized I was sweating a lot, no air logically under the wrap. Then I went to pat it dry with paper towel and there were specks of ink all over it. I´m afraid my sweating lifted the ink. My tattoo looks the same but I´m really afraid that I affected it´s darkness. Will it be faded if I lost some ink? I know it´s normal for skin to release some ink, but since I had it wrapped for so long?

Calm down, you could be leaking ink for a days. It's perfectly normal. 

[Dan]

On ‎3‎/‎25‎/‎2014 at 1:08 PM, jgarr610 said:

I've kind of been wondering the same thing.. I just got the insides of my pinkies done this past Friday. The other pinky has a heart and this one says "xo". I'm worried that it looks like it's blown out. You can see the sharp lines which look great but it's grey and cloudy along the outside of it.. but only on this finger and now the other. I've read a few other things that said this happened to people on their palms but that it just went away? It's got me a little worried.

like was said, palms and fingers are really going to mostly blowout and you will be lucky if you will even see it in 6 months.

[emmkej]

Thanks everybody for answering. I was worried cause my artist told me to take the wrap off after 3-4 hours, not 20 hours which I did, plus the sweating. It wasn`t on purpose, but it`s not an excuse, it`s been 4 moths now, my tattoos healed well, but I`m not sure if I contributed with all that to the faster fading?

[Chris R]

I was wondering if someone could advise on an issue: I got my sleeve completed back on May 3. The artist I've been working with put a medical wrap around my tattoo and told me I could leave it on for 3-5 days and once I removed it , I could just start on ointment or lotion. After 4 days, I started using aquaphor. The scabs weren't hardening and at that point my artist told me I was using too much ointment. He told me to stop with the ointment and to let it dry out. That was back on the 14th. The tattoo is drying out and has scabbed up, but whenever I shower, random parts of the tattoo leak. Not sure what I should do at this point.

[Princess Sparkle Mittens]

Just saw the date on the original post. Nevermind. 

Edited May 23, 2019 by Princess Sparkle Mittens