Please help me with this nightmare heal!

[oboogie]

I'm glad you're on the mend. My infected tattoo almost instantly got better when I got an antibiotic shot.

[bongsau]

@MoonWraith every post i've read in this thread you were putting something new on it...leave it alone and quit putting lotion, creams, ointments, etc etc.... let it dry heal. it's going to be fine.

legs are difficult to heal, especially for large tattoos where you get hit with the line, black/shade, colour one after the other in a sitting. my whole hand looked like your scab for 6 weeks. it turned out just fine. just relax, and take a breath, what a frantic thread to read 😉 tattoo looks great.

[MoonWraith]

2 hours ago, oboogie said:

I'm glad you're on the mend. My infected tattoo almost instantly got better when I got an antibiotic shot.

A shot?? Wow, that's intense!! I've just been taking the pills. I'm finally starting to feel like there's an end in sight, lol. 

[MoonWraith]

2 hours ago, bongsau said:

@MoonWraith every post i've read in this thread you were putting something new on it...leave it alone and quit putting lotion, creams, ointments, etc etc.... let it dry heal. it's going to be fine.

legs are difficult to heal, especially for large tattoos where you get hit with the line, black/shade, colour one after the other in a sitting. my whole hand looked like your scab for 6 weeks. it turned out just fine. just relax, and take a breath, what a frantic thread to read 😉 tattoo looks great.

I can admit I can be really OCD with stuff like this. Like my mind gets hyperfixated on something and it's all I can think about. I had really easy heals for all my other tattoos so this whole experience really caught me off guard. that must have sucked so bad to deal with it for six weeks, wow. These big scabs seem to take forever to go away. So you didn't have much fading etc underneath when all was said and done? 

[oboogie]

On 9/6/2019 at 8:49 PM, MoonWraith said:

I can admit I can be really OCD with stuff like this. Like my mind gets hyperfixated on something and it's all I can think about. I had really easy heals for all my other tattoos so this whole experience really caught me off guard. that must have sucked so bad to deal with it for six weeks, wow. These big scabs seem to take forever to go away. So you didn't have much fading etc underneath when all was said and done? 

I have had big scabby tattoo wrecks and not needed touchups. You may be fine, or you may need touchups. Everyone heals differently.

[SStu]

Yep. I hope you post another photo next month so we can see how it actually comes out. 

[MoonWraith]

19 hours ago, oboogie said:

I have had big scabby tattoo wrecks and not needed touchups. You may be fine, or you may need touchups. Everyone heals differently.

It actually doesn't look half bad under the scab as it's coming off! Not nearly as faded as I thought it would be. 

4 hours ago, SStu said:

Yep. I hope you post another photo next month so we can see how it actually comes out. 

I'm definitely going to post a pic once it's finally healed! For sure, I won't forget 🙂 

[MoonWraith]

Oh, and one more question for you guys: The dermatologist seemed to think at least some of this was an allergy to the red ink? And my artist also mentioned it could be something to do with the red ink being "difficult to heal." 

The dermatologist actually warned me against getting other tattoos in the future and said I could have a "severe systemic reaction" if I did?! Does that sound a little extreme to you? Has anyone heard of anything like this? Either way I'm going to take a break from tattoos for a long while, LOL. I have enough to keep me happy for a long time.

The artist just told me to come back for a touch up, haha. Like even if this was some kind of allergy, can't I just avoid red ink in the future and be good? I've had red ink on a bunch of other spots without issues, even in the same tattoo . . . 

Edited September 11, 2019 by MoonWraith

[tsuk]

4 hours ago, MoonWraith said:

Oh, and one more question for you guys: The dermatologist seemed to think at least some of this was an allergy to the red ink? And my artist also mentioned it could be something to do with the red ink being "difficult to heal." 

The dermatologist actually warned me against getting other tattoos in the future and said I could have a "severe systemic reaction" if I did?! Does that sound a little extreme to you? Has anyone heard of anything like this? Either way I'm going to take a break from tattoos for a long while, LOL. I have enough to keep me happy for a long time.

The artist just told me to come back for a touch up, haha. Like even if this was some kind of allergy, can't I just avoid red ink in the future and be good? I've had red ink on a bunch of other spots without issues, even in the same tattoo . . . 

Medical advices are by nature always in the "extreme" side of things

Components can differ between each inks 

I would always stick to a given medical advice regardless of how extreme it may sound

There are indeed some cases where it goes to shit, altough those reports are always to be taken with a grain of salt unless you have been trained to read a scientific paper AND have some basic dermatology knowledge

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5142484/#!po=5.55556

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4799043/

Take care

Edited September 11, 2019 by tsuk

[t76turbo]

I feel your pain @MoonWraith literally  

 

I am currently going through an almost identical situation. I had about half of my lower leg/calf done recently. Outline done about 4 weeks ago which worked out perfect and all the color 2 Friday’s ago (8 days ago I guess).  I am a large person. 6’6” and about 270lbs. So half my lower leg is a lot of work. 

Artist used saniderm day of tattoo. It started leaking because there was so much plasma in the area. So I went back to get it rewrapped in saniderm Saturday. He cleaned it very well and applied it again. By Sunday the pressure was very bad like you said. Sitting with my leg straight out was fine but when I stood and the blood and fluids are pulled down by gravity it was excruciating pain. By Monday the new film was leaking so I pulled it off in the shower and cleaned the area with anti microbial soap and started letting it air dry.

 

But the pain just got worse. And it got infected somehow. I also have a weird symptom of red bumps and general redness around only parts of the tattoo.  But my tattoo is mostly red and I am starting to wonder if it has to do with allergies to the red ink  I went to the doctor  a couple days ago after part of the tattoo continued to drain and was very red. He was very concerned about the infection. Gave me a shot of antibiotics and a prescription for a heavy duty antibiotic. Like you said, the antibiotics made a difference in the pain pretty quickly. Some of mine still looks very bad like yours as far as scabbing and obvious fluids. 

I hope yours heals the way you want it. I am worried about mine but reading some of the comments you have gotten and others on this forum have posted, maybe I will just need some little touch ups at the end. 

 

If I EVER do a large piece on my legs again I will break it into a number of smaller sessions if possible. 

Edited September 14, 2019 by t76turbo
Clarification

[MoonWraith]

On 9/11/2019 at 5:19 PM, tsuk said:

Medical advices are by nature always in the "extreme" side of things

Components can differ between each inks 

I would always stick to a given medical advice regardless of how extreme it may sound

There are indeed some cases where it goes to shit, altough those reports are always to be taken with a grain of salt unless you have been trained to read a scientific paper AND have some basic dermatology knowledge

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5142484/#!po=5.55556

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4799043/

Take care

Wow, that first one seems like a real nightmare. That's insane! Luckily I think that's some kind of freak thing 😛 But the second one had some good info, thank you. It seems like most reactions are relatively minor which is a relief. But I'm happy to say I haven't had much trouble at all over the past few days. If it even was an allergy (We really think it may have just been an infection at this point) it seems to be dying down pretty fast. But this whole experience definitely made me rethink getting more tattoos, and especially red ink!

[MoonWraith]

2 hours ago, t76turbo said:

I feel your pain @MoonWraith literally  

 

I am currently going through an almost identical situation. I had about half of my lower leg/calf done recently. Outline done about 4 weeks ago which worked out perfect and all the color 2 Friday’s ago (8 days ago I guess).  I am a large person. 6’6” and about 270lbs. So half my lower leg is a lot of work. 

Artist used saniderm day of tattoo. It started leaking because there was so much plasma in the area. So I went back to get it rewrapped in saniderm Saturday. He cleaned it very well and applied it again. By Sunday the pressure was very bad like you said. Sitting with my leg straight out was fine but when I stood and the blood and fluids are pulled down by gravity it was excruciating pain. By Monday the new film was leaking so I pulled it off in the shower and cleaned the area with anti microbial soap and started letting it air dry.

 

But the pain just got worse. And it got infected somehow. I also have a weird symptom of red bumps and general redness around only parts of the tattoo.  But my tattoo is mostly red and I am starting to wonder if it has to do with allergies to the red ink  I went to the doctor  a couple days ago after part of the tattoo continued to drain and was very red. He was very concerned about the infection. Gave me a shot of antibiotics and a prescription for a heavy duty antibiotic. Like you said, the antibiotics made a difference in the pain pretty quickly. Some of mine still looks very bad like yours as far as scabbing and obvious fluids. 

I hope yours heals the way you want it. I am worried about mine but reading some of the comments you have gotten and others on this forum have posted, maybe I will just need some little touch ups at the end. 

 

If I EVER do a large piece on my legs again I will break it into a number of smaller sessions if possible. 

Wow, that sucks so much that you're dealing with something similar. Well I know this doesn't help you much in the moment, but I'm so, so happy to say that most of my symptoms are now completely gone. So as long as you get a good antibiotic and listen to your doctor, there's a good chance you'll be fine.

It took me a while to start seeing major improvement from the antibiotic but it worked like a charm in the end. I still had weird fluids coming out of it for days even after starting the antibiotic. Honestly that didn't fully stop until I was almost done with the treatment, which my doctor said it normal. 

Right now I still have the big ugly scab, but it's hanging on by a thread. Check out the pic. I have no pain at all anymore, the redness has gone down, etc. 

Now one thing you're having that I never experienced is the bumps. I didn't get that, so that actually makes me a bit worried you could have an allergy. I also didn't have a ton of redness (only like .... under the tattoo in parts where it's totally normal). But again, that could just be normal wound-healing weirdness. I think it's impossible to tell if it's an allergy until it heals up, unfortunately. 

Right now just try to keep a positive attitude. As someone who went through the exact same nightmare, there's a good chance you'll be fine before long. I know how it is: It seriously felt like it was NEVER going to get better, I was so upset for a while. But it's a huge wound! So the sad truth is it can take almost a month to heal from something like this. 

Just take your antibiotics and think long and hard about getting any more tattoos 😛 

[MoonWraith]

Guys I'm seriously so happy, the scab came off today and it looks way better than I thought it would underneath!! 

 

 

[oboogie]

There you go. Told you not to worry!

[Jenn]

Sooo this is helping me out a lot I got my pups portrait large on my forearm I don’t know if anyone is even going to see this since it’s 2 years old LOL but the mouth of my pup looks just like that it’s been 7 days today and I’m freaking out the sharp pain and stinging is unreal! I have no redness around the tattoo but the scabbing color is exactly the same as yours... how did your tattoo make out in the end .. because I’m nonshalantly freaking out

[oboogie]

Is this your first tattoo? 

Just keep it clean. If you are that worried, go see a doctor. We aren't doctors here.

[MoonWraith]

On 10/13/2021 at 10:06 AM, Jenn said:

Sooo this is helping me out a lot I got my pups portrait large on my forearm I don’t know if anyone is even going to see this since it’s 2 years old LOL but the mouth of my pup looks just like that it’s been 7 days today and I’m freaking out the sharp pain and stinging is unreal! I have no redness around the tattoo but the scabbing color is exactly the same as yours... how did your tattoo make out in the end .. because I’m nonshalantly freaking out

 

In the end it's a bit patchy in the one spot with the scab. It drove me nuts for a while but I've mostly forgot about it now 2 years later lol. If it's all scabbed up like that it's a shot in the dark: Might be perfect might be a bit wonky like mine was. Some people just get giant scabs and it's no big deal. If you have no redness it's probably fine, I would randomly get huge scabs on my old tattoos and they would just fall off. But in this case I had redness in the area around it and it was actually cellulitis or an allergy (no one knows to this day, two different docs gave me inconsistent replies lol)

Did they use red ink in the area?