Hey guys!
Had a question regarding an all-black tattoo i got on my upper arm 17 days ago. I took care of it, applying bepanthen religiously as instructed by the artist thrice a day for 2 weeks, following which I'm applying this E45 lotion twice a day since the past 3-4 days now.

the tattoo didnt scab, but started peeling around the 5th day, by the 7-8th day the surface layer had completely come off. I thought once the layer is off its supposed to have healed? but even now around the 17th day when i look at it from time to time, theres really tiny 'white' flakes of dry skin over it in a few places..is this still a drying phase? and why is the black color not at all as bright as it was the first day I got it, is it supposed to surface alot lighter?

the skin on the tattoo at the moment seems slightly wrinkly upclose..like a jigsaw puzzle put together :/..is another layer supposed to come off before it brightens up or what.

I really doubt you need to be adding all that lotion to it any more. With mine, when the scabs were gone I stopped applying lotion except when the skin looked 'dry' (maybe once a day or every other day and REALLY thin). I think I had stopped applying any lotion once the white flakes came at around day 11 and stayed there for 5-6 days.. after which the tattoo was just healed. It's been too long to remember accurately though :S

Whut? A weird double-post here. Apologies.

i'm applying it because everytime i look at it, there're these tiny dry flakes so I thought its still drying out. But my main question is whether its supposed to take this long to surface or whether its just alot duller than the first day you get it after the healing period.

Those white flakes are your skin. You're getting an entire new layer (or ten, probably) of it over your tattoo, and it's quite normal. Healing time varies between people and is also affected by the aftercare.

Although I'd really like some more 'pro' backing before saying it's 100% so, I THINK you should stop applying lotion to it. Just wash it with good clean soap and you'll wash all the dead skin away.

Great advice. Of course every tattooist says different things, but with my personal experience you are handling the lotions WAY TOO MUCH and have went way over board. For my tats, after the 3 day period, I stopped using the lotions and creams and let it dry out and let it peal. Letting it peal is a good thing, it's the dead skin overtop of the tattoo that is indeed healing, so don't pick at it. But my opinion, I think you're using lotions way too often and it needs time to breathe, dry and heal. Good advice from ArniVidar.. just use soap, pat it down, let it heal and the dead skin will eventually wash out and your color will open up.

Normal healing time is from 21-28 days or longer. Dont worry about what the outer layers of skin look like at this point. Trust me, the ink is in a deeper layer of skin. If you have no infection, then you have no worries.

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thanks for the help guys. You're probably right. The only reason I applied the lotion this long is well..see for yourself - just snapped this pic two minutes after washing the area with anti bacterial soap and pat-drying with a towel. its dry all over .. Am I to let it stay this way? and not apply anything anymore? seems weird, I thought the healing/peeling period is done with by 10-14 days and this is day 18.

one of the pics i've circled one or two areas where the ink doesnt look just dull, it looks realll light, as if the skins showing through but i'm not sure whether its showing through or if theres a layer of skin forming over it that makes it look that way.

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/9755/photo333.jpg

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/9263/photo334.jpg

If your anti-bacterial soap contains any alcohol, you should not be using it at all. It dries the skin and could possibly ruin the tattoo... all in one fell swoop.

no alcohol. zinc based "non drying formula, ph-balanced" and mild.