Lower leg tattoo

[Dennis]

When I had my one lower leg shaded it swelled quite a bit. I would feel a ton of pressure when it needed to be moisturized during the healing process. It was almost crippling! It was shaded the whole way around in one go, so that may be why I experienced the pressure sensation.

Pics from the session (2008):

[opal fruits]

I thought i do my first post here as i got a leg piece not too long ago. I never really had a problem with swelling but i found that

keeping the tattoo moist when sleeping was really hard but i found that bepanthen cream really works.

Hope that kinda helps.

[gutter gutter]

I thought i do my first post here as i got a leg piece not too long ago. I never really had a problem with swelling but i found that

keeping the tattoo moist when sleeping was really hard but i found that bepanthen cream really works.

Hope that kinda helps.

how big of a piece is it? i hope i experience little swelling as well.

[opal fruits]

how big of a piece is it? i hope i experience little swelling as well.

Its from just under my knee to the top of my ankle but its a portraits piece and also i did two sittings(each two hours).

[hallious]

I got a calf tattoo four days ago.

The day after the tattoo, whilst at work, my leg and ankle swelled up which I thought was pretty normal for the healing process.

Thing is, my ankle is still swollen now. I'm sure it's not an infection or anything as the tattoo is healing nicely, there's no soreness and it's starting to peel.

Just hoping that four days of cankle is not something I should worry about and it should pass pretty soon?

Cheers

R

[iowagirl]

I'm betting it will lessen as the days go on. My feet looked like balloons when I got them done and my ankles were horribly swollen for a few days. If a person could just hang out for like a week or so, chill on the couch and put your feet up, use ice packs and such, it probably wouldn't be that big a deal..but sadly, we have to be up moving around, walking. Sometimes it's good to get the circulation going to those spots, but having all your weight in them for long periods of time makes them swell so much.

[hallious]

Thanks @iowagirl!

I rang the tattoo parlour and had a chat with the front of house manager.

He said it's pretty common and can last a little while so that allayed any worries I had.

Guess it's just a weekend of relaxing in front of the telly with my foot up!

R

[PurpleHouse]

I think one of the most unpleasant parts is when you shift from laying down or sitting into a standing position. That whooooosh! feeling when it seems like all of the blood in your body rushes to your lower leg and the skin feels super tight is horrible.

I'm so glad I found this forum, this topic, and this post. It's great peace of mind knowing that this is not just something happening to me.

I got an ankle tattoo on Monday and was beginning to be concerned that it's healing hasn't progressed as much as expected, not to mention the whoosh!

Thanks!

[ibitezombies69]

i got a tatt on my ankle on tuesday its not hot to the touch but its sore n red around it, i also got a nor cal star on my shin.last night n its hot to the touch and red around it. how long will it be red for? do i have anything to worry about?

[GrayCatLove]

The internet doctors require a photo.

Any red lines running to it? This sounds fairly normal, but pictures help a lot.

Try RICE:

Rest

Ice (with a barrier between like a Ziploc and towel applied for no more than 20 minutes at a time)

Comfort (no tight garments over it or applying anything to further irritate it... NSAIDS and ice)

Elevation (the lower it is from your heart, the harder to heal)

[HettyKet]

What Cat said, also some antihistamine and ibroprofen will make you a lot more comfortable.

[Cathrine Inked]

Wow, wish I had seen this a month and a half ago when I was freaking out!

I got a piece on my calf/shin, and the day after it was done I had this weird red, swollen rash that went all the way around my ankle. The tattoo itself looked fine, but it freaked me out. I was in Miami at the time, and had no idea what to do. (I'm from Norway) I ended up getting this cortisone, cooling ointment that was supposed to help against all kinds of skin irritations. Took a shower and put it on the rash(but not the tattoo) and it started to disappear within an hour. Next morning it was all gone :) I was travelling at the time, so resting and keeping still wasn't much of an option..! Probably not the best solution, but in desperate times!

[Gregor]

i got a tatt on my ankle on tuesday its not hot to the touch but its sore n red around it, i also got a nor cal star on my shin.last night n its hot to the touch and red around it. how long will it be red for? do i have anything to worry about?

Try introductions first, show us a photo ov your sick tatt bro

[dari]

exactly as you described! it sounds normal enough. gravity makes the swelling travel to the ankle most of the time. take over the counter anti inflammatories and drink plenty of water to help circulation. any time you get to rest keep your leg elevated. sometimes i may keep the new tattoo wrapped up for the first day (will wash before wrapping up in the morning and if possible re-wrap during the day, take off completely as soon as you get home) to help against swelling and overly weepy tattoos.

the above is for longer sessions but usually your normal routine should work fine

So funny to me that I'm reading this now. I've dry healed a few things, mainly because I'm busy/lazy, but I got an awesome new lower leg tattoo today and I don't want to fuck it up. I've had trouble with a lower leg tattoo before so I thought I'd check out aftercare advice here tonight. I even went to Walgreens and bought Dial soap and some creepy Lubriderm type lotion (creepy to me 'cause I don't generally rub petroleum products on my body.) I do, however, love the smell of Dial soap, and we only use green/organic stuff around here so I'm super excited about that. I'm pretty sure my husband would tell me to keep the plastic wrap on for now, but he's not home so I'm getting in the shower. He always leaves the wrap on until the next morning, though, I have noticed that, so I will try to re-wrap afterwards. I am teaching a yoga class in 12 hours so I hope it doesn't swell too much.

I just want to say, I love LST. I was talking to Valerie earlier today, it never would've occured to me to ask for aftercare advice, and here's everything I could possibly need to know in one thread specifically on the lower leg tat. (100+ posts!) Go LST!

[Colored Guy]

So far I've only gotten smaller tattoos on above my ankles and on one foot. The foot tattoo healed slower than anything.

Anything on my right leg from the knee down heals slowly due to an old GSW and I broke my tibia in 2011. I do have plans for 2 large family crests on either side of my calf, but not in a big rush.

Rob

[JeffK]

Just had one put on my calf. The worst was the first day after, sitting for a while then standing and the fucking blood pumping, gah.

The legs, particularly calves, are kind of interesting since it's kind of the point where your bodies all like "Yo blood, get the fuck back up to the heart and brain!" and pumps it back through the veins. Lots going on down there. That said, my 1 other below-the-knee tattoo didn't take any longer to heal or anything weird. Just different shit. Can't cross my legs a certain way or whatever.

[ccody38]

Thanks for all the posts on here, I thought I was going crazy, I had a tattoo done on my inner left calf last year and thought holy crap this pain is insane, brushed it off and thought it was just me....last Fri I got one on the right inner calf, and again, the pain is insane, redness, hurts to walk on it, constant burning sensation when you first stand up, now that I read this I see it's normal....I have several tattoo's and NONE hurt like this.....I would not suggest getting one there to anyone unless you have a high tolerance to pain, or you have good numbing spray!!!!

[caingoza]

Can anyone tell me if this is normal? I got this tattoo like one month ago, and even though the external layer of the skin is ok (when you touch it you don´t feel anything) they are like wrinky weird spots beneath this layer. Any advices? my tattoo artist told me that ankles could take longer healing and that as long as I keep moisturizing it, I shouldn´t worry. Ps: I think my skin has a slow healing process, just by looking how long it takes to heal when I cut or something else. Thank You all :)

[polliwog]

Plentiful whiskey, strong coffee and lots of ibuprofen all taken together make a probably stupid but very effective painkiller, as I found out yesterday. Not going to repeat that for days though.

With this tattoo I'm getting a lot more colorful plasma weeping than with my arm tattoos, sorta like @Tesseracts picture of her dripping tattoo from a couple weeks ago. This mostly happens after I put the usual Aquaphor on it. It's hard to figure out whether I want to keep it moisturized and discourage scabs, or let it dry out and get scabbier but have the scabs stop the weeping...

[Tesseracts]

I took vicodin the day after I got my calf tattooed. That helped. I also tried it while actually getting the tattoo, did not help even slightly for that purpose unfortunately.

I let the tattoo err on the side of being too dry, because the color dripping freaked me out. So far it's healed perfectly except for one bump that I complained about in the other thread, but that's probably nothing. As long as it only gets soft scabs and not hard scabs, it will be probably be ok.

[chanelxox]

I'm glad I read all these because I was worried when every time I stood up my lower leg hurt... I guess it also didn't help that I was excessively wearing heels for 3 days prior to getting the tattoo. I will say though after walking around for a bit it doesn't hurt as much.

[Bunny Switchblade]

Ha ha ha.........I tattooed my Hubby's calf this past Saturday and he is going through it right now!

He even said......"It must be worse for me now because I am older!"

I remember it being bad for a few days and gradually getting better.....but neither of us had thought about it until he stood up the next morning! :)

[LizBee]

I'll chime in here and echo other comments that I wished I had read this thread before my latest ankle work. It was a coverup and more painful than other ankle tattoos, but I was prepared for that, I just wasn't prepared for my lower leg to be so swollen and take so long to heal. The first day after when I showered and stood up, I had to clean the splashes off the floor! Dew WHUUUUT?? Weeping seems like an understatement. I didn't want to put an absorbent dressing on it because of sticking and I wanted it to get air, but I couldn't go to work with that kind of mess draining everywhere.

It took about a month for my leg to get its act back together, but now I realize it probably wasn't that unusual. My artist didn't have concerns, and it turned out very well.

[sophistre]

I'm going to start getting tattoos on my legs after August. I'm not looking forward to the healing. D: Even my lower arms throbbed a lot during healing, I can't imagine lower legs! It must be intense.

[LizBee]

I got my latest lower leg in Feb, and I realized, too late, how often I wear fitted boots and high top shoes in cold weather. Ix-nay on the oots-bay for a good month.