Hogrider

How old was the original tattoo when you covered it? I haven't ever had a coverup, but I've never had a tattoo that looked that rough. HOWEVER, as @SStu said, give it some time. It takes 4-6 week to heal, longer if it went in rough. You shouldn't be doing coverups or anything else to a tattoo until it's completely healed.

What exactly is making you worry about this tattoo?

Nice!

I’m not sure what you are trying to say. It’s a blowout, there’s no fixing a blowout, and I don’t mean this unkindly, but this is why you do your homework BEFORE you get a tattoo. You would have known that small delicate lines on thin skin are prone to blowouts.

Welcome to the internet - you don’t always get the response you want. Being snippy with the long timers is not a good way to get advice.

Yup. No one told Leonardo da Vinci to paint the Mona Lisa. "Hey Leo, can you paint a picture of my girlfriend, maybe some scenery in the background. maybe have her hands crossed, no smile, but not frowning. I need to see a sketch of it before you start."

Seems you like the Japanese style. I’d go with a dragon or koi dragon, some flowers, water and call it a day. Actually, that’s just what I did per my artist’s suggestion. I told him I was open to anything in the Japanese style and just sat back and let him work. My first sleeve I didn’t give any input at all.

Although I agree with @oboogie, if you want suggestions, it would be helpful to post pics of what you already have.

I hope you have the patience to wait. I’ve seen people swept up in the moment by enthusiastic tattoo artists. Also, be sure you are realistic about laser expectations. It can lighten a tattoo, but I’ve never seen one actually removed. Your tattoo creates scar tissue, laser creates more scar tissue. I’m not saying don’t do it, but if you think it’s going to disappear, you’ll be really disappointed. You have a nice tattoo. Better to have a nice tattoo that you don’t like than a sh!tty tattoo you hate and be looking for coverup #2. Remember, each time you go in for laser or coverup you’re creating more scar tissue, making the next time harder.

First, sorry it didn’t work out as planned. Second, don’t do anything until you’ve lived with it for a while. I’ve seen plenty of cover ups that wound up worse because people were in such a hurry to “fix” them. At the very least you need it to let it completely heal before you start to monkey with it. Patience is your friend. Plenty of people have come to love a tattoo that they initially didn’t like.

This is not a platform for scratchers. Please read the rules.

It’s a 7 year old thread sh!t head. Go advertise your sh!tty tattoos somewhere else.

Nobody wants your shitty product.

Nobody wants to go to your shitty web site.

Tattoos take 4-6 weeks to heal. There is nothing you can or should do until they heal. Enjoy your tattoo, you'll know in a few weeks if it needs a touch up. Anyone who tries to predict how a tattoo will heal is usually more Nostradumbass than Nostradamus.

If someone has never seen anything like this before and says it’s not a blowout, they are not an expert. i second @oboogie, don’t go back. I wouldn’t ask any of your “experts “ for advice either.

That's what I thought, but I clicked on the link and it's not an ad.

True, but we can point them to it and ask them to read it before they ask further questions. I'm not trying to stifle traffic, I'm just trying to create a forum where the same questions aren't asked three times a week. Thanks Steve! I'm sure this will be a work in progress, but at least it's started.

Newbies mostly, come on all the time asking if something is infected. It's true, we aren't doctors, and even if we were, we shouldn't be dispensing medical advice over the internet, BUT some of us have been around long enough to know what to look for. If it's not hot, oozing, smelling, extremely painful, it's not likely to be an infection. That's just a fact. I'd be the last one to discourage someone from seeking medical advice if they were concerned, but there are indicators. Same with healing - people come on all the time, "I've had this tattoo for two days, will it heal right?" Same with blowouts - "How do I fix a blowout?" Same with reactions/allergies - "My tattoo itches, am I allergic to the ink?" There are probably some others that I'm not thinking about. Just food for thought. And for Christ's sake, don't come on the forum asking for advice and then start arguing! If you already know the answer, what are you asking for? And if you don't know the answer, why are you arguing with my answer?

Marie - This is the first time you've posted that. I can't speak for anyone else, but I was addressing your original post, "There isn’t any redness really and it’s not hot, but it is tender in those specific areas." Which is quite different than super hot, has pus and is growing larger. Anyway, I hope it heals nicely.

She’s asking opinions and we’re providing them. I don’t need to be a doctor to know the symptoms of an infection and she doesn’t have them. As to allergies, if you look at the medical literature, the number of actual documented allergies is tiny. The chances that this is an allergy is close to zero. What many of us with years of experience getting tattoos have seen is tattoos like this caused by someone tattooing like they were using a jackhammer. When the most likely explanation covers all of your symptoms, it’s probably the correct one. Last, YOU don’t set the rules here. If you want to be the big cheese, start your own forum.

Where are you getting this "old ink mixing with new ink" thing from? Ink put under the skin doesn't "mix." If you put white ink in the same place as you have red ink, it doesn't turn pink. That's not how tattooing works. The simple explanation is most likely the correct one. It's not likely allergies, it's not after care, it's not ink mixing, it's just a heavy hand. Allergies don't just go away. If you were really allergic to the ink, it wouldn't just heal. That's not how allergies work. I understand you're looking for answers, but you already have the answer and now there's nothing to do but wait and see how it heals.

Almost certainly heavy handedness. There is nothing about that that looks like an infection. Is it hot, oozing, does it smell bad? When you hear horse hooves, don't look for zebras.

You are SERIOUSLY overthinking this. The problem is that the tattooer did an apocalyptically bad job. It's extremely unlikely that there is any kind of reaction going on here, let alone a reaction to the previous tattoo or ink allergy. If you look in the medical literature, tattoo allergies are extremely rare. Yes, some people don't react to some colors, but that's not an actual allergy. As I've previously said, someone's tattoo itches as it heals and they tell everyone it's an ink allergy. Have an adult beverage, an unprescribed pharmaceutical, or do some yoga. Relax and let it heal. I've seen people so upset about something like this that they can't wait and go out and make it worse looking for a quick solution, Your body needs to heal ... period.

At this point I'd just keep it clean. Unless it gets hot, really oozing, extremely painful, I'd just take the antibiotics and wait. As I said before, that's going to be a long heal. How did you find that tattooer?