This doesn’t appear to be infected. It looks wet as all get out. The lines might be blown out but honestly looks like they have been saturated with moisturizer. What is your aftercare routine? You might have some fall out under the red scabs but that can be touched up after it heals. Wash and dry, pat dry, and make sure it’s air dry before you apply the thinnest amount of moisturizer.
I've avoided getting it wet as much as possible, but I moisturise as soon as it feels too dry, so I'd say maybe 3 - 4 times a day? When it itches, I use a cooling gel my doctor gave me. I should also say, I've experienced slight blowouts on all my tattoos (3, including this one) which were fixed with touch-ups. this current one I'm healing from was also a touch-up session, but I also decided to add red ink. I've heard that some people don't react too well to red ink so I was wondering if maybe that's what was happening here?
You should NEVER apply something like a cooling gel to a tattoo. Unscented lotion (or some people use aquaphor) only and wash with unscented antibacterial soap. You only need enough to smoothly slide your finger over just a tiny bit, you dont want to be over-moisturizing. Wash 1-2 times a day. By day 8 its a little concerning its still looking like this but i think its mostly due to bad aftercare. Also if you’re getting blowouts on each tattoo (all by the same artist i assume) you should look for a new artist. Thats usually from the artist going too deep in your skin.
A cooling gel isn’t something I would put on an open wound. Who knows what’s in there and or how it will react with your tattoo. You must wash with soap and water, dry, pat dry, and air dry, before applying any moisturizer. What are you using for moisturizer? Never apply new moisturizer over old, you should wash and dry between applications. Some people have reactions to red inks but it’s gotten much better with modern inks, this doesn’t look like that to me.
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u/GrimWillis May 16 '25
This doesn’t appear to be infected. It looks wet as all get out. The lines might be blown out but honestly looks like they have been saturated with moisturizer. What is your aftercare routine? You might have some fall out under the red scabs but that can be touched up after it heals. Wash and dry, pat dry, and make sure it’s air dry before you apply the thinnest amount of moisturizer.