Hogrider

It would help to post a pic. Also, how long ago did you get it?

Too much moisturizer is just as bad as too little, if not worse. 6 days in, so what if it dries out? What do you think is going to happen? When I'm six days in I moisturize it once a day, using just a tiny bit of cocoa butter. I used to make a big production out of caring for a new tattoo. Now I do the absolute minimum and the new tattoos don't heal or look any different than the old ones.

It looks like you have way too much lotion on your tattoo. The skin looks all shiny. You should use the absolute minimum needed to keep it from drying out. I'd try no lotion for a day or two and see if it still smells.

Quit listening to idiots. How exactly do they propose you fix it? You can't pull the ink back out, all you could do is make the lines thicker and you'll most likely wind up with a mess. Thin, delicate skin is prone to blow outs, that's just a fact. Stop obsessing over it.

THIS! Read it over and over until you get it. Monkeying with a tattoo will make it worse more often than it will make it better.

Everyone wants people to like their tattoos, but the most important thing is that YOU like them. I never had any negative comments, other than that I have too many (live with it mom), but if I did, I'd try to blow them off.

Whoever said that is a jackass. They know nothing about tattoos and even less about being a decent person. I'd leave the tattoo as is. I say this over and over, I think you have a better chance of making it worse than you have improving it. It's a nice tattoo. Did you see examples of the artist work that looked like what you wanted?

The only way to "fix" it is to thicken all the lines and you'll wind up ruining the tattoo. Either live with it or cover it.

I agree with @Dan, that's pretty bad. Awful design, poor execution. Looks like something done in a kitchen, or at a "tattoo party."

The only advice I have is to be really careful what you do to that tattoo. I've seen more tattoos made worse than improved by monkeying around with them.

Yes, you are botched. Does it look like the stencil? If so, it's on you, if not it's on your tattooer. This is one of the reasons I don't like text - very few people can do it well and it's often hard to read. First - you can't, and shouldn't do anything until it heals in 4 - 6 weeks. Bad news - even knowing what it says, I don't see it. I don't see any "I" don't recognize the "S" in still and "rise" looks like "rife" or "wife." More bad news - even laser probably won't completely remove it. Laser is not like an eraser. Yet more bad news - If you try to fix it, you'll almost certainly make it worse. YOU CAN'T FIX SCRIPT. Good news - it could have been worse. I recommend after it heals, finding someone really good at coverups and get that covered. Don't cheap out, make sure you do your homework, or you'll be one of the many people I see that say, "I hated my tattoo so I ran out and got a cover up and now it's even worse." I remember getting work done one time and this woman came in with an awful coverup; it looked like it was drawn by a developmentally challenged 8 year old. When she left my artist said, "that thing looks like arnold schwartzenager climbing out of a tar pit." He's a great artist and put a huge Koi over it and you can't even see the old mess. Meanwhile, don't sweat it. Having said all that, there is something cool about it that I kind of like.

We really need an "ignore" or "block" option on this forum.

Is that artist skilled both in the style you want AND coverups? If not, you'll need to travel to get your work done, otherwise you're likely to end up with more tattoos you're not happy with.

If you don't like my posts, you can report me to the moderators or you can ignore them. You seem easily offended, maybe the internet is too rough for you. ;-)

Um, no, I DIDN'T make your point for you. You aren't understanding. The style he wants has so much open space between lines that practically every line in his current tattoos would have to be incorporated into the new one. THAT'S the point. But the only opinion that really counts is the artist doing the coverup. ;-)

Good luck with that. The style OP is looking for contains a lot of blank space between intricate designs. It’s not like throwing a big black panther over something.

That's going to be a tough cover up. You need someone really good at that style AND coverups. It won't be cheap. I agree with @Gingerninga, laser will help.

Art is subjective, so no there is no perfect tattoo. Very early on my artist told me that if you look hard enough you'll find something wrong with every tattoo. He said step back and look at the big picture. I can honestly say I enjoy all of my tattoos and I don't look at any of them under a microscope.

Everybody heals differently. I've had different areas heal differently. Sometimes light peeling, sometimes heavy, sometimes twice. Again, you need to wait 4-6 weeks to see what it's going to look like and I highly recommend you wait a couple of months before any touchup. Give that skin a break.

I'd find a tattoo artist who specializes in Japanese style and ask them. Try to get a unified theme going.

I would have waited longer than a month to do a coverup. Every time you tattoo the skin you are causing trauma. I would give it time to completely heal before you do anything else. If you have this touched up it will be the third time tattooing over the same piece of skin. The color is unlikely to get darker, but wait a minimum of 4-6 weeks to see what it will look like.

No, I wouldn't worry. Nothing you can do about it now anyway.

I never wear sunscreen. I keep my tattoos covered. :-) Treat a fully healed tattoo just like any other skin. The sun is a tattoos worst enemy - just like every other piece of skin.

An article written by a reporter taking information from the company who makes the machine. No independent reporting, no fact checking. This is the kind of lazy, sloppy, excuse-for-journalism that is the standard these days. I wouldn't believe a word in that article. As far as FDA approval, all they are approving is that the device doesn't kill you. And I'm sure you can buy FDA approval pretty cheap.