You might try vitamin E, but just a little bit. I had two small spots that took a long time to heal completely and after a few weeks of using vitamin E SPARSELY once a day, they healed completely.
Lotion twice a day after three weeks sounds like serious overkill.
Yes, this.
I use my lotion for any tattoo only for a maximum of 14 days, two times a day, and I try to let them take air so no tight clothes and such. I never had problems in healing with this method, many tattoo artists of mine too suggest to use Bepanthenol (that's the cream everyone uses here and to me is great) only for 7 or 10 days, but they always say that we all need to find our personal way of healing. 14 days works great for me, bigger and smaller tattoo alike, so I stick with that.
Now I am in a phase very similar to yours: my inner calf tattoo done 20 days ago is perfectly cured, but I have still pain on my ankle and a little bit on my calf too.
I had back ache for a good month when I did my entire upper back with a totally black phrase!
So I think that (understood that the tattoo artist's experience and way of tattooing has its importance, since some of them have a "heavier" way which is more painful) if you get a tattoo on a particular area of your body prone to more pain (muscular or of other types) you may need much more time to heal properly, even if the tattoo itself isn't anymore red or itchy. Mine heal all at a fast rate, no redness or swelling after some days, but in those two areas I experienced and still am experiencing some heckin pain at a muscular (or something else.. I'm not a doctor ahah) level!
The advice I could give you is to use your lotion only the days/weeks you are accustomed to, like, 10 or 14 days. If still the tattoo has some problems, you feel pain and such, let it take air and rest.. don't apply more cures to it! By the way it looks awesome!!
We all heal at different rates...but it takes months for us all to heal fully. Give it time and don't over saturate it with lotion - your skin needs air to heal.
