Doctor

I've got my largest tattoo yet just two short days away... A (sort-of) rainbow zebra! Just some great image from a tshirt I found at a thrift store. Getting it from Jordan Epperson at No Regrets in Memphis. It's gonna go on my side, along my pant-line, below the ribs. Anyone have sage advice or wise words for wearing a seat belt with healing a tattoo that is exactly where the seat belt needs to go? I'm also hoping it won't interfere too much with my banjo practice. The banjo must go on.

Yeah I've been using less lotion this time than before, I think I'll use even less on my upcoming! Healing is truly a trial and error process... But in the end I find you usally can only do so much damage... After all, they are very hard to get rid of :p Thanks for the encouraging words, everyone, I'm starting to see the results poking through from beneath the ugly stuff

I've got this fresh tattoo here... The line work I've had for a little while, but I just got it filled in 4 days ago (pics below). The first is from the day I got it (Tuesday), the second from today (Saturday). It seems like its really crusting up a lot. My last tattoo had some minor scabbing but healed fine, but I don't remember it being so CRUSTY! Aftercare has been washing 2-3 times a day with warm water and Dial soap, used light coating of Aquaphor first 2 days and have been using unscented Lubriderm maybe twice a day since. Has anyone else had big crusty buildup like this? It doesn't really seem like scabbing, just a very THICK beginning to the peeling stage! I don't really like putting lotion on it right now because it seems like it just sort of gets built up in the thicker parts. This is less attention that I've given my previous tattoos, I've been trying out a more minimal healing approach. Any thoughts are much appreciated! (the color in the pictures is more dramatic than in person, lighting was MUCH brighter in first pic)

A longtime family friend, who also runs a small business that designs/manufactures some specialty medical equipment, offered to give me a free laser removal :p

Haha I guess that was a bit heady for an introduction... But yes, it's good to be here :mad:

I've got a small, simple typographical tattoo. "breathe" is all it says, but shoot! I think that tattoo is a lot wiser than I am. It continues to teach me so much. People usually don't tell me what a cool tattoo it is, but then that's not why I've got it! It's there to help me and whoever else out. Remember to breathe!

Hi yall~ The Doctor is in! I'm new round these parts, but this seems like a great community. I've just gotten into ink in the last coupla years, and have (as of yesterday) four tattoos: three on my left arm and one (the new one) on my right calf. It's a quick and beautiful life, why spend it fearing your body and all the great things it can do? I'm currently kickin' it in Memphis, TN, eagerly awaiting the birth of my first child, and feeling better than I ever have before! I got my first tattoo March of last year. I was en route to home from NOLA and called ahead to a Memphis parlor after unsuccessfully attempting to have my tattoo done in Louisiana. I got it that night when I rolled back into Memphis; it reads "breathe" on my left forearm. It came out perfect, and I've had the fever ever since. The transformative power of a little tiny bit of ink boggles my mind. The needles hit your skin and... bam! Your arm or leg of foot or back or lip or face or neck is transformed, for the rest of your life! It makes me mindful of that simultaneously eternal and fleeting quality of life and of the body.... Anyhow, it's good to be here and I look forward to gettin' to know yall. Cheerio, and remember: ~It's never to late to have a happy childhood~