Tattoo Infection

[JFROST]

Hi All! 

This is my first post and it required me to post it in initiation instead of Tattoo Advice, so hopefully I'm doing this right.  I got a tattoo on Tuesday 1/28 (photo below of right after) it was healing fine (my husband and I both have multiple tattoos for reference) and then my daughter came down with the dreaded stomach flu on Wednesday. All over me. I raced to the shower to rinse and wash the area around my saniderm. On Thursday, I noticed redness around the saniderm (but not on the actual tattoo) so I took the saniderm off and followed standard after care procedure. By Sunday, it looked like photo 2 labeled "day 1". I knew I was in trouble and went and got antiobiotics, Doxycycline and topical. I've been following the regiment my doctor gave me, wash 3x daily with gentle soap and water, pat dry, apply antibiotic ointment. keep dry, open, and don't touch and don't put anything other than the antibiotic ointment on. I've labeled pictures of my day to day progress but I've never met anyone with an infected tattoo before so I don't know if this is progressing normally or if it should be showing more improvement by now. I reached out to my doctor today to schedule a follow up but he's not available until 2/12 and I don't want to leave this if I should be more worried. I am on day 5 now. Only four full days of antibiotics. Am I just being impatient? What is the normal healing time? My doc said I should be completely healed in 10 days, but my artist said it could take up to 3 months to be completely healed. 

[oboogie]

I had an infected tattoo. It looked a lot like yours. I had to get a shot of antibiotics, and it took a few days for them to kick in. All the color fell out, and the skin was sensitive and took quite a long while to heal. Just be careful with it and follow the instructions your doctor gave you. You'll be OK. No need to panic.

[JFROST]

Thank you! 

[oboogie]

You're most welcome!

[SStu]

10 days to fully heal the infection

3 months to completely heal the tattoo, especially that low on your leg.