Gear_Head

Greg Piper at Exposed Tattoo, finishing off the bottom half of my sleeve.

@marley mission I'm right there with you. Normally I'm real big on simple all natural washing and cleaning. Air drying is the way to go; however, sometimes I have to moisture up to avoid breaking of the skin and scabs.

@marley mission that I have but this balm and Rx is clearing it up nicely. My prior tattoos I never had a problem and honestly if I didn't step in to clear it up it I feel like the problem wouldn't have resolved itself. The balm gives the right amount of moister to my healing tattoo plus it's 100% all natural ingredients. Might help for some folks so I figure I'd pass it along to the community.

@Faust Checking in with how your tattoo is healing up. Mine is getting better daily. Tattoo Nation I came across a product that is worth looking into for tattoo after care. It's called Mudscupper's All Natural Tattoo Balm. It's proven to moisturize, effective anti inflamitory, anti fungal and reverses any bad germs that lands on your new ink. It's work a look.

@oboogie I hope not, I would like to think this is great place for the true tattoo community. Good to know you're helping to keep it authentic!

@oboogie thanks buddy :) Keep ya posted

@Sarahwhite Awesome thanks! What's the name of the studio you guys are at? Like to check it out.

@Sarahwhite Thanks for the feedback, I'll keep you posted. BTW, what studio do you work at? I'm a big fan of artist and that of the tattoo nation. Thanks again!

@Sarahwhite Very cool!.., are the out comes favorable? I've been good about air drying, and decreasing moisture care, and I keep it clean. I'm on a Rx so it's been helping. I have a half sleeve already and my aftercare went fantastic on that. My 2nd tattoo is on my inner forearm and its been tough on me on a few spots. Thanks for you're insight!

@Sarahwhite ever have a tattoo get infected or know someone that has?

Question to the Tattoo Nation out there.. After a tattoo infection, what is the likelihood of scarring? If there is, will a touch up do the trick? Thanks

@Faust I did 2 days ago and I am doing a Rx of antibiotics, x2 dosages a day. I'm on my second day of antibiotics and I've started to see an improvement. As you can tell I have just 2 locations that the plasma had a hard time clearing up and some of it got trapped under the scabs as they formed. Before I went to the Dr.'s I cut back on the number of times washing and the amount of after care product and let the tattoo air dry. I have seen a large improvement in just 2 days. Keep me posted on how you're outcome is going for you.

@oboogie it looks great! Thanks for sharing that with me. I appreciate it much. I'll keep you posted how I'm coming along with mine. Thanks Tattoo Nation!

@oboogie Bummer it got infected but I'm really happy to know the outcome turned out great for you. Sadly I have a small infection on mine but I'm currently on a Rx. I was just curious on how you're journey was with the problem and how you're tattoo finished up. It seems to me the folks I talk to say the inner forearm and the calf can be pretty tough spots to heal from. Thanks for informing me and I'm stoked for the finial outcome on my latest tattoo.

I am day 17 post tattoo on my inner forearm and despite my best practices got a infection in a few spots. I actively kept the skin dry and went to my primary. I was given a oral dose of Rx of a antibiotic. Although you can do your best to avoid infections, you can still have it happen. To easy your state of mind consult both your artist and your Dr. Lastly, sometimes ink doesn't take to well for some or it doesn't heal well for you. Each person is different and I'm sure every single tattoo artist out there has retouched their customers at least once. Oboogie, how extensive was your infection and where was it located? Lastly how many days did it take for you to recover from your infection once you started treatment?

I agree with that. It's in eye sight on the regular so I'm constantly judging it. I just need to respect the healing process and let it be. Its good to know that someone else has experienced a similar outcome from getting their forearm tattooed. Thanks for letting me know.

The biggest thing is allowing the balance of moisture and dry skin. To much moisture product prevents the skin to breathe and allow the healing process to take place. In addition if the skin is to moist it can harbor bacteria to settle in. If the skin is to dry it will crack and cause the skin to open up and that's bad news for the tattoo as well. There isn't a gold slandered per say but know your skin sensitivity. What is important is limiting the amount of plasma in the first 24-36 hours after you get home and keeping the skin sanitized really well.

Naiemh, Thanks for the feedback. I agree with you. My top half of my sleeve healed extremely well but despite that for whatever reason(s): ink accidently got pulled out, ink not taking to the skin or any other reason, I had to get small touch ups. The forearm session spent doing black under tones prior to color going on top of it. The last hour of work did get spicy so my skin was angry at me for a few days after. Thanks for reaching out and offering up a comment or two. Most of all thanks for supporting the tattoo community!

Great artwork on your tattoo BTW, It truly looks nice! I recently had my inner forearm worked on and it was tough with the healing on a portion of the piece. Black under tones and dark blue coloring were put on in the same sitting. That got my skin pretty angry. 5 days later I had a few spots that wept plasma and it got me worried about color loss and most of all infection. I changed up my healing routine by cutting out 2 cycles of washing and more time spent with drying. After that those two isolated spots in my piece stopped weeping plasma and dried up. Have you tried different way(s) attacking your balance of moister and drying? Those two factors IMO causes the greatest amount of conflict in the healing process. Thanks for sharing and I'll be stoked to see how your most recent piece finishes up!

Forearm is a tough spot IMO. Had that done just recently and I have a few spots that wept few days longer than expected but has now dried out. I used the same process as I did for my top half of my sleeve and the finished ink looks badass. I think my most recent piece has two factors: 1. Location as you mentioned Marley Mission 2. The amount of under tones of black before sold color shading. The middle of my forearm got spicy on me. That area was tough and is still scabbed up; however, the rest looks great. I'm excited to have it soften up and as tattoos continued to heal up.. some spots take in the ink better than other spots. The more work your artist spends time in can get spicy. From my experience the best factors for healing have been that balance of air drying and moisture. To much in either direction is bad. Anyone have any tough spots that caught you by surprise and or had to change up your normal routine for healing? I'm excited as the journey continues this week on the back side of my forearm! All the best to the Tattoo Community!

I'm 16 days later after a 3 hour session filling in black undertones and dark blue colors. The skull has healed up well and has that "glass look" but the top portion of the hat is still a bit scabby and only half way healed. Been decreasing the amount of water and anti-bacterial soap treatment to help balance out drying the skin and providing the right amount of moisture to the tattoo. In and around days 4-5 the plasma still wept in a few spots and I was concerned about infection setting in. Its drying out but those scabs still look ugly. This is my 2nd tattoo and my top half sleeve was with the same artist and it turned out extremely well. I've employed the same aftercare from the 1st tattoo. I'm looking for some tips or pointers on some aftercare considerations. The forearm seems to be a tricky spot to tattoo at and it did feel a bit spicy for the first 3 days after my tattoo session. I'll turn it over to the tattoo community, and thanks!