Hogrider

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?

That’s the worst I’ve ever seen. I think you just need to tough it out. That’s going to take a long time to heal. Just have patience and don’t let anyone talk you into working on it until it’s fully healed. That could take months. what is it seeping? Blood, pus, color?

If its not red and it's not hot and it's not oozing and it doesn't smell bad, it's probably not infected, so no need to freak out about that. It's going to be gooey until you let it dry out. I'm not a doctor, so I can't tell you what YOU should do, but I wouldn't put anything else on it until it heals. And don't blame color because your artist worked the sh!t out of your skin. I wouldn't ever go back there. That's practically malpractice. There is NO reason to work your skin like that. As @SStu said, let it sit for 6-8 weeks and see where you're at.

I'd leave them as is. Those are nice for 30 years old.

Yes, there are individual differences, but there are more similarities. I think I have a high pain tolerance. In general though, thin, delicate skin is going to be more sensitive so the article got it backwards. Anyone with a lot of tattoos experience would know that. I just pointed out two things. If I went through the entire article, I could have found 15-20. They also said that many people are allergic to red ink. People saying this is one of my pet peeves. Having a reaction is not the same thing as having an allergy. Some people have a harder time healing red ink, but actual documented ink allergies are extremely rare. Some newbie's tattoo itches and they think they have an allergy. I see this more and more often on the internet - people writing articles about something that they have absolutely no first hand knowledge about. What am I going to learn about tattoos from someone who doesn't know anything about tattoos? If you don't know anything, you have no basis for judging your background material.

It reads like something that someone who knows nothing about tattoos wrote by googling a lot of different topics. Two examples - inner arm hurts LESS than the outer arm - not that I’ve ever heard or experienced. Yellow and orange fade faster on pale skin - again, not what I’ve heard or experienced. I saw many, many other examples of just plain wrong information.

As my artist says, “Just because it hurts is no reason to not get a tattoo.”

Absolutely, as long as you’re not sharing them to sell something. I think most of us only get irritated when some dick head’s first post is selling his shitty product. This isn’t eBay.

Art is not an exact science, skin is not a consistent medium. It means that is their estimate. There are a lot of things that could change that - your skin might not take the ink well, you may not sit well, he might be moving slower than usual.

How will I ever get over this???? Boo hoo me!

The artist that covers it will sketch it. Don’t waste time or money on someone else. Get someone good, that’s really dark and won’t be easy to cover. Make sure you see before and after examples their work. You may need to consider a few laser sessions first.

Awesome. Good things come to those who wait!

Don’t drink alcohol, it thins the blood which is not good when getting tattooed. I didn’t really have any issues with pain on the back of my legs, but some people find it very painful.

The new guy Being an ass hole to the long timers is not a good way to get help. We’re trying to educate you, you are trying to remain ignorant. You win!

If something this ridiculous happened, then you didn't research your artist very well and that's on YOU. This is why you don't just walk into the first shop you see, grab the first person you see there with a tattoo machine and yell "INK ME!!!!" If you do your homework, that would NEVER happen.

There's your mistake. Although I agree that the tattoo artist should communicate thoroughly, if you are new to tattoos, you need to ask the questions. "How many hours will this take" is a pretty basic question. He should be able to give you a ball park estimate. It's your skin and your money, you should be informed up front, if that's important to you. My artist never gives me estimates because we change things and usually add things as we go along. Each of my sleeves (with chest panel) were around 50 hours.

How long since you got the original piece? Without that information, it's hard to tell if it's too dark. As far as comparing a drawing to what goes on your skin, you can't. It's dark, but too dark? Depends on how long you've had it. As far as going over budget - didn't he give you an estimate? If he said he'd be 4 hours and took 10, then you've got a legitimate complaint. If you didn't ask how many hours the piece would take, that's on you. Some tattooers are just slow. You said, "I found a shop that does alot of what I like." Well, a SHOP doesn't tattoo you. Did you look at the specific person doing the tattoos before you committed? I mean did you look at ALL of his work that he has posted? If not, you should have. If you did, does yours look darker that what you saw? It sounds like you and the artist didn't do a very good job of communicating. 4-6 weeks to heal. I'd let it heal before you do anything else.

Wavy lines of different weights and circles not round and not uniform? That's going to look like a scratcher did it. Probably about one in one hundred thousand will actually know what you're trying to accomplish. BUT, it's your skin.

I hope so, it was 3 1/2 years ago!