hello folks, i’m at my wit’s end trying to figure out what is up with my body
for context, i had 5 other small finer lined black ink tattoos and one 2x2 inch color tattoo before experiencing any problems.
in may i got a tattoo on my inner bicep that healed terribly. i thought i had a reaction to the saniderm and that’s what caused the issues. i scabbed over in really thick scabs and lost some ink, but now it looks so much better than i ever thought it would. just needs a touch up. i kind of wrote that off as super unlucky, since my skin is very sensitive. i get a rash when i wear a belt, can’t wear most earrings, broke out from face masks before.
i just got another tattoo last week above my right knee. i didn’t use saniderm because i didn’t want to cause problems. i washed it multiple times per day with an unscented bar soap (again, sensitive skin) and then moisturized with unscented lubriderm. when i washed i made sure to get all the funk off and wash until it didn’t feel sticky. the only issue i can think of here is that i maybe applied moisturizer too soon after washing (it made sense in my brain, didn’t want to let things settle on tattoo before moisturizing. i dunno). on the third day it started looking a bit gross so i consulted my artist. she said that it could be a few things - the fact that we used cling wrap, the area it was tattooed in gets a lot of movement, stuff like that. i have a few friends who have been tattooed by her and continue to go back and have never had any issues, and she works at a fantastic shop. i obsessively read reviews and look at portfolios before going to artists.
anyway, i developed the same gross scabs from the first tattoo i mentioned, but only on the areas that had the most shading and color done. the black ink areas and minimal color areas healed absolutely perfectly, but there are clear borders and thick areas where all the dark and heavy shading was done. i was asking my artist a lot of questions throughout the tattoo and at one point she even told me that if you overwork skin it kind of turns into hamburger, and can heal poorly. so i’m assuming she knows when to leave an area be and not overwork it.
i’ve never had any big injuries so i don’t know how my body would heal an injury that isn’t a tattoo for reference. i did go to the doctor to get some antibiotics just in case, then he told me to put vaseline on my scabs? he didn’t know what to look for or know anything about tattoos. so i just don’t know what to think.
if this is a me problem and i’m doing something to ruin my own tattoos, i’d like to pinpoint the problem. however, if this is an issue with my body being too sensitive to lots of work, i don’t want to set myself and my artist up for failure. i also don’t want to tell an artist how to do their job and say that i think my poor healing is their fault, especially when they seem very knowledgeable and reliable. could it just be that i don’t take well to lots of work done at once? what the hell is going on here?
for context, i had 5 other small finer lined black ink tattoos and one 2x2 inch color tattoo before experiencing any problems.
in may i got a tattoo on my inner bicep that healed terribly. i thought i had a reaction to the saniderm and that’s what caused the issues. i scabbed over in really thick scabs and lost some ink, but now it looks so much better than i ever thought it would. just needs a touch up. i kind of wrote that off as super unlucky, since my skin is very sensitive. i get a rash when i wear a belt, can’t wear most earrings, broke out from face masks before.
i just got another tattoo last week above my right knee. i didn’t use saniderm because i didn’t want to cause problems. i washed it multiple times per day with an unscented bar soap (again, sensitive skin) and then moisturized with unscented lubriderm. when i washed i made sure to get all the funk off and wash until it didn’t feel sticky. the only issue i can think of here is that i maybe applied moisturizer too soon after washing (it made sense in my brain, didn’t want to let things settle on tattoo before moisturizing. i dunno). on the third day it started looking a bit gross so i consulted my artist. she said that it could be a few things - the fact that we used cling wrap, the area it was tattooed in gets a lot of movement, stuff like that. i have a few friends who have been tattooed by her and continue to go back and have never had any issues, and she works at a fantastic shop. i obsessively read reviews and look at portfolios before going to artists.
anyway, i developed the same gross scabs from the first tattoo i mentioned, but only on the areas that had the most shading and color done. the black ink areas and minimal color areas healed absolutely perfectly, but there are clear borders and thick areas where all the dark and heavy shading was done. i was asking my artist a lot of questions throughout the tattoo and at one point she even told me that if you overwork skin it kind of turns into hamburger, and can heal poorly. so i’m assuming she knows when to leave an area be and not overwork it.
i’ve never had any big injuries so i don’t know how my body would heal an injury that isn’t a tattoo for reference. i did go to the doctor to get some antibiotics just in case, then he told me to put vaseline on my scabs? he didn’t know what to look for or know anything about tattoos. so i just don’t know what to think.
if this is a me problem and i’m doing something to ruin my own tattoos, i’d like to pinpoint the problem. however, if this is an issue with my body being too sensitive to lots of work, i don’t want to set myself and my artist up for failure. i also don’t want to tell an artist how to do their job and say that i think my poor healing is their fault, especially when they seem very knowledgeable and reliable. could it just be that i don’t take well to lots of work done at once? what the hell is going on here?
