Red ink reaction

[Daphne]

I got this tattoo 5 days ago, it is not my first tattoo and I cared for it the same way I did for the other 10... This NEVER happened before and I am super worried. Is it an infection? A red ink reaction? What should I do with this? Will it eventually heal properly? It is on my forearm and I am a little upset that it doesn't look as good as expected... Even the red is turning pink! 

 

It is hard to show on pictures but some spots look like holes in the skin. Not pretty I'm tellin ya. 

Edited July 30, 2019 by Daphne

[bongsau]

Looks very overworked.

Are you putting any kind of lotion or ointment on it ? If so I would stop and dry heal that sucker out.

Not much you can do, aside from trying not to stress. Let the body heal. In a few months you can assess, re-hit the colour in the tattoo, but it's looking pretty scarred up so you might have to wait a bit longer for a re-hit. Talk to your tattooist.

 

[Daphne]

I was putting ointment on it but I think I am going to take your advice and try dry healing it... I guess with dry healing it is normal to get some stiffness in the skin and that it cracks and leaks a little? 

I tried talking to my tattooist, he denied that it was overworked and blamed it on me. I mean I know he is the professionnal, but this is not my first tattoo and damn it hurt! 

Edited July 30, 2019 by Daphne

[Hogrider]

25 minutes ago, Daphne said:

I tried talking to my tattooist, he denied that it was overworked and blamed it on me. I mean I know he is the professionnal, but this is not my first tattoo and damn it hurt! 

I wouldn't go back. It definitely looks overworked. I agree with the dry heal at this point.

[bongsau]

Dry healing is fine, it just is a bit more uncomfortable to heal and takes a bit longer.

Putting ointment and hand lotion on open or scabby skin always seemed counter-intuitive to me.

 

[oboogie]

He brutalized you. I'm sorry about that. Hope it heals OK.

[Daphne]

Just now, oboogie said:

He brutalized you. 

Clearly he did... Did is scary to me, never happened before and it is the most exposed of all my tattoos! 

[Samth]

I had something similar happen on my last tattoo (big, red, d20 on the back of my arm) and my skin did not like the red ink. It kept weeping and scabbing for ~2 weeks. Finally got it to dry out and heal. Got it touched up to put the red ink back in and had no reaction at all, healed super easy. Basically, the body can be really weird!