I have these show up on my old black tattoos after getting newer tattoos. In the past few years I have been getting inked on a regular basis. I would see maybe 5 bumps randomly on old tattoos and assumed it was my blood pressure or just scar tissue(never thought about a reaction to tattoo ink). They would disappear in a few hours. Two weeks ago I had a patch of them on an old tattoo that would not go away. Still didn't put two and two together. A week ago I had a large red ink tattoo done on my calf and the bumps exploded across my arms. My hives cover both arms(100+ bumps) but don't itch. Doctor says it is still an allergic reaction even though they don't itch. I had what is called a pseudolymphatous reaction. It is an inflammatory response that results in lymphomatous-appearing but BENIGN accumulation of inflammatory cells. Basically my bumps look like skin cancer but are not. They are likely permanent. High dose antihistamine and/or high potency corticosteroid cream will not work. Only surgery will guarantee a remission.
Please see a doctor if you are worried and make sure you are treating it ASAP. I hope everyone has a better outcome than I did. I'm not salty about it and I reassured my artist that they have no responsibility in this. I didn't realize the ongoing issue and there was no way the artist could have known.
