Alyson Miller

No, not plastic wrap. I don't ever use that. The first couple of days when it's weeping more I use the large gauze pads with the plastic backing that are kind of like doggie pee pads except for humans. LOL! Not sure exactly what they're called. After that I just use regular gauze pads and I wrap over that with coban self adhesive wrap. I change it twice a day and wash with soap and water between changes. Plastic wrap I think would make me insane, holding in the heat and all that I had to look up Saniderm but it seems like it's the same principal as Tatu Derm. I have heard of people healing the tattoo using it for more than just the first day. I am allergic to Tatu Derm and the adhesive rips my skin off so I can't use products like it. You are VERY lucky you don't get swelling and pain!! OMG I have been through some of the WORST with my calf pieces.

Just an update. At the end of 7 days when the wrap came off I had a beautifully healed tattoo. Over the next 2 or 3 days the rest of the dead skin flaked off and I had not a single scab. Not one. I never had any swelling or pain at all. So this will be the healing method for me from here on out. Just thought I'd post again about how it turned out. :)

Thanks Iwar!

Yep, you're right. Much better description!!! :cool:

Hi all! I'm Alyson and I'm new to the forum. I'm not an artist but I am a collector (thanks Jeff). Working on my calves right now and enjoying every minute of it. Anyway HI to all of you! Alyson

Hey all! I don't know if this will help anybody but I thought I'd post my experiences with lower leg tattoos. I have a full calf sleeve on my right leg and am working on the left right now which is also partly a coverup of a coverup. LOL! I ran into many of the same issues I see in this thread while I was trying to heal. There is so much conflicting information out there about what to do and what not to do that it becomes impossible to get good information sometimes. But I've finally run into something that works really well for me. First I want to say that everybody's body is different. Nobody is going to heal the same way. Ever. So I think people should focus on finding out what works for their own body. From what I've found there is no right or wrong way. Every artist is going to have a preferred method but what works for them might not work for you at all. I've heard "never let your tattoo dry out or it will be ruined!". I've heard "if it scabs, it's ruined!!". I've also heard "never re-cover a tattoo after the first day or it will be ruined!". I've found absolutely none of this to be true in real life. When I first started working on my right calf we started out with Tatu-derm after the initial sitting. Found out pretty fast that I was allergic to it. I have pretty sensitive skin which the Tatu-derm would actually rip off when it was removed which needless to say, caused further healing issues and damage to the ink which had to be touched up later. So I went back to a more traditional covering after each session which worked much better. I started out with the usual washing the area several times a day and trying to keep it moisturized constantly. For me this resulted in quite a bit more weeping which caused more scabbing. I always had a lot of swelling. A LOT! By day 3 I'd have a cankle - swelling everywhere - and I'd be experiencing that horrible pain upon standing and all that not so fun stuff. Healing was kind of a bear but I got there. 11 months of work and I have a beautiful calf sleeve. With this next one I had a couple of sittings and went through the usual procedures. The initial bandage would be on for a few hours after completion, then that would come off and the area would get washed. Then the first night it would get antibiotic ointment and be covered again. Yes, I've heard the "never use antibiotic ointment" thing too. Some people are allergic to it so that can be a problem but I am not so it's been fine. The third sitting I was having some issues with the area being pretty sore. Trying to sleep with it was impossible because I couldn't position my legs comfortably enough so that they wouldn't stick to each other and irritate the tattoo, or stick to the sheets. So I kind of said screw it and I used the ointment and bandaged my leg for the first five nights (until it wasn't too sore to sleep with any more), leaving it unwrapped during the day. I did this purely out of desperation for comfort and soreness relief and it went against everything I'd ever read about healing a tattoo. But what I ended up with in the end was a beautiful heal and nearly no swelling. I had NONE of the extreme pain on standing thing either. None. I only had a mild amount of scabbing as well and only in certain areas. The work from that sitting healed beautifully. So I went in for my 4th sitting this last Friday and I confessed to my artist that I had used the ointment and covered it longer than I was "supposed to" but that I ended up with a beautiful heal. She told me about an artist friend of hers who was having great success wrapping the leg with ointment for a full week. Daytime too, not just at night. At the end he says it's perfectly healed. So I decided to give it a try. I'm on day 4 now of the wrap. I change the bandage twice a day, wash the area and apply more ointment before adding a new bandage and wrapping again. I have had nearly no swelling. Just a small amount on the first day after the sitting and by today it's all gone whereas before I'd be solidly in cankle territory right now and having difficulty on standing and with walking. It would seem that the bandage is wicking away all the serum weep that contributes to the scabbing, while the antibiotic ointment promotes healing and keeps the area moist. The bandage helps keep the moisture in and keeps it from getting irritated during normal activities. This morning when I changed the bandage I see that peeling has started but I have absolutely no scabbing at this point despite the worked area being right above my inner ankle bone which is prime territory for massive swelling and scabbing. Having the leg wrapped seems to be acting like a mild compression bandage and I believe it's what has kept it from swelling. It's definitely much more comfortable than having it exposed and having to worry about brushing or bumping it on things or whatever. In the end your body is going to heal your tattoo whichever method you choose for it. I hear people saying the tattoo needs to "breathe" to heal and not to cover it with anything occlusive (ointment, etc.) and all that but even my Dermatologist says it's myth. Again, this procedure is working beautifully for me, but might not work for everybody. I just see so many posts about swelling and pain that I thought I'd put it out there since it worked so well for me. Good luck to all of you!!