Hey guys! I'm Riley, a 21 year old college student from Canada.
I'm new here, and looking to get my first tattoo soon. I'm a little worried because I've tried ear piercings several times and every time they've gotten infected or rejected/refused to heal, and I'm wondering if that means there's a good chance of the same thing happening with a tattoo. My first ear piercing was with gold and used a gun, so I understand why it got infected. But the second time was a titanium captive bead ring, done with a proper needle at a tattoo/piercing place with a good reputation. It didn't exactly get infected - there was no pain, swelling, pus, etc - but after 5 months it still bled and leaked a clear sticky fluid every time I turned it, and it looked like my earlobe around the ring was trying to grow up over the ring. I'd taken perfect care of it exactly as they told me, used the saline solution spray they gave me, never touched it without washing my hands, etc. Eventually I removed it and let it grow over.
But I'm wondering if that reaction to a piercing means that I might have the same kind of reaction to a tattoo. I can't seem to find a straight answer online as to whether the two are correlated. I know there's always a possibility of infection, etc., but do you think my reaction to the piercings gives me a greater risk of something like that happening?
