Ohh what a week it has been.
So, Tuesday evening is the day I got the orca work done on my left thigh.
All was well, until I got called into work 4 days in a row..
Before I get the “you should have said no,” “shouldn’t have answered” an so on, I was the last resort, the only person not at work for something other than doctors orders.
I am a waitress so I had to wear long pants at work and be standing for long periods of time.
I made sure that the tattoo was cleaned very frequently (morning, noon, night/as needed for scab avoidance) and gently; I iced the area to minimize inflammation after I returned home from work, cleaned, dried, air dried and then moisturized tattoo with Aquaphor ONLY.
I had no trouble healing an area much larger than this for my first tattoo, and developed an infection from what I assume to be lack of oxygen to the area allowing the growth of gross little things.
Have any of you guys had to deal with this problem, specifically I am looking for
-how you dealt with scabbing
-did you have a significant amount of fading/ touch ups required?
-About how long did it take for the area to more or less heal (not be tattoo-able again, but simply de-scab and appear pretty normal) ?
And with those was it a large tattoo or large area of tattoo?
Any thoughts or experience would be VERY appreciated.
I’ve had some serious scabbing in the past and no touch up was usually required.
I switched to the “dry wrap” method of aftercare. (Wrap in plastic wrap with no ointments)
Aquaphore is petroleum based. Try a non-petroleum, cocoa butter based ointment for application after plastic wrap process is completed.
I’ve always covered up my tattoos when they were fresh. Except my newest one, and it was worse having it out in the open all the time.
I live in a cold country and usually get tattooed during winter, so kinda got no choice. Never been a problem for me.
But I have had infections, scabbing and all that. It happens! 🙂
If you get thick scabs, you might have been putting on too much ointment. If you layer it on too thick, you will get trouble. You might also react to the petroleum.
I personally hate dry wrapping and swear by a more.. casual, aftercare method ;D My last one got to bathe in the ocean three days old. It’s 1 1/2 weeks old now, and I do have some scabbing, but no loss of color or ink. It’s gonna heal up fine, it just needs a little extra time. It’s worst in the darkest areas, as it’s been with all my tattoos.
Your orca is very much black, so I’m not surprised! 🙂
I usually just do this; Keep it clean. Keep moisturising it. If everything else fails, I use bacimycin, which is a anti-infectant ointment. It works very very very well!!!
Don’t think you can get it in the US, but something similar should be available. Avoid sink and nasty things at all cost.
It will probably heal up just fine, but it might take a little while. When this happens to me, it usually takes about 2 weeks. At first it seems healed, the scabbing goes away, and then I get silverskin. A thin thin layer of dry skin over my tattoo, which just needs moisture and it goes away in a couple days.
I once had a tattoo crack – Like the scab got very thick(the one time I tried dry wrapping…), and quite simply cracked. There was a line running through it, bleeding and being nasty. Terrible. It healed up juuust fine, still didn’t need a touch up 🙂 (And this goes for bigger pieces as well – as most of mine are)
Yeah its the heavy black parts that have now scabbed. Hard to walk lol
Since its a good area of inner thigh that is scabbed.
Pox, I was wondering how the bits that appeared to “crack” would fair.
Covering has never caused problems for you guys? Ill have to try next time.
Overall my artist said he’d do free touch ups, and if its a significant amount of touching I’ll slide him something extra for being so patient.
Yeah its the heavy black parts that have now scabbed. Hard to walk lol
Since its a good area of inner thigh that is scabbed.
Pox, I was wondering how the bits that appeared to “crack” would fair.
Covering has never caused problems for you guys? Ill have to try next time.
Overall my artist said he’d do free touch ups, and if its a significant amount of touching I’ll slide him something extra for being so patient.
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