Samth

Ahh I must have missed that part

First thing I would do is talk to the artist, or if you're really concerned about an infection speak with your doctor.

I agree, even if you can engage in bartering you can really help them out

I'm not saying that everything is great, as it certainly is an inconvenience for both of you. They lost the day of work too. Im sure they would rather have been working and making money too. Also, the deposit is there to protect the artist. It will still go towards your overall cost. All you can do is reach out and state explicitly that you will or will not be at the next appointment. Again, this is certainly less than ideal. All i was trying to say was that this hardly seems to be worth this amount of online stressing and venting.

Just like any other job, people get sick. And then while they recuperate, and focus on health, might not respond to work stuff for a few days. Doesn't seem like a big deal.

I had one that got REALLY infected on my tricep, and when it finally healed all it needed was a quick touch up to pack some more color. Like others have said, all you can do is maintain your aftercare and wait for it to heal fully.

If you are seeing your doctor today, bring it up with them.

Are you applying more moisturizer than usual? Could be clogged pores

Also, 9 days is nowhere near long enough to tell. It will take at minimum 4-6 weeks to heal, and sometimes even longer to actually settle. Only then can you tell what the skin will look/feel like.

Depends on your skin and how it heals. Just enjoy it! (not like you can take it off and start over, right?)

Honestly, it looks good! That placement is one of those spots where depending on how the arm is positioned it can look a little wonky. My guess is it looks straight when your arm is straightened out/natural. (I have a dagger on my tricep and it only looks "straight" in certain positions haha) Let it heal fully, and if you still want the line size matching, you can always have that done.

Wow...totally didn't read the part about weakness and lotion. Yea that makes no sense

Nope, just healing. Give it a couple more weeks

Might have beat up the muscle a little bit, when I got my tricep piece done it was sore for a good 3 weeks. If you have access to it, a good unscented lotion with CBD really helped

The skin just isnt done healing yet

3 weeks still isnt healed, and no tattoo looks the same as the day it was done. Let it heal FULLY (inner layers of the skin can take months to fully settle after a tattoo), but it looks good

Could be the fogginess from the healing skin...just let it completely heal and get it touched up if needed. Also, a picture would help give us a better idea of what you're talking about

Feel hot? Weepy? Some areas are extra sensitive and take more time for redness and swelling to go down

Different areas heal differently. Also possible that one area required more work and so has a more drastic healing process. Some of my lighter touch ups didn't even peel lol

I know people that have experienced this, especially when it is a large or highly visible tattoo. You've drastically changed the way you look, so your brain has to "re-define" how it pictures your body. This can often lead to some temporary distress or anxieties. All my friends who have experienced this felt better after your brain gets used to your new look and self image. Hope that helps!

The exact same thing happened to a friend of mine. They used one of those sterile patches for his neck tattoo and it left a little rash in the exact same shape and size. All in all, it took about 2 weeks to fully go away. He also said that it was annoying even as it improved. It should go away, for him it was just the skins reaction to that covering. As far as advice goes, he noted that using as little lotion as possible really helped it feel better.

Let it heal...only then can they do a touch up well. You don't know what needs to be touched up until it is healed

Once it is all healed, easy touch up

If these pictures are fresh vs healed, it looks like some of the darker/interior red could be a candidate for a touch up. This could give you a solution. However, it looks like they are present in your rubix cube too, so maybe it is just your skin/follicles holding ink? I also agree, that thing looks way over moisturized...let that thing breath!

I had something similar happen on my last tattoo (big, red, d20 on the back of my arm) and my skin did not like the red ink. It kept weeping and scabbing for ~2 weeks. Finally got it to dry out and heal. Got it touched up to put the red ink back in and had no reaction at all, healed super easy. Basically, the body can be really weird!