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lizblack · Tattoo lover Joined: 02 Mar 2007 Posts: 2

Hi, I'm having ongoing problems with my tattoo and this looks like a great place to get advice. I had a tattoo done on my foot almost two months ago. It is a bamboo tattoo and I got it done in thailand, which in retrospect was clearly daft as I am now having loads of problems with it. I did check the artist out and was confident of his hygeine, but i think the tattoo being on my foot and me wandering around in sandals has meant that it was left vulnerable to infection. It's a pretty big tattoo that covers most of my foot, and as it was done with bamboo it didn't bleed at all or scab as my other machine tattoos have done. The artist told me that as it was a bamboo tattoo it would heal much quicker than a machine one and that I could go in the sea the next day, but I was much more conservative than this and didn't go in the sea for a week or so and then when I did I covered it with vaseline first as he'd told me to do.
Anyway, I've got two obvious problems with it that seem to have got worse in the past 3 weeks or so. Firstly, I am pretty sure that I am having an allergic reaction to the blue ink he used. The tattoo is blue and black and the black areas are perfect (which is making me even sadder as I can see how it should look Crying or Very sad

) but the blue areas are bumpy and there are a few angry red patches around some of the blue bits. I have been taking antihistamines and applying antihistamine cream for nearly two weeks now but there doesn't seem to be any change.
Secondly, there is one area of the tattoo that is swollen, sore to the touch and red around it. A small patch of scab did form over this area and one night when i was washing it an edge of the scab peeled up and there were a couple of holes in the skin underneath. This freaked me out quite a lot but the scab finally came off on its own and the holes are no longer there. I went to the doctor 5 days ago and she agreed with me that I must be allergic to something in the blue and also said that she thought I had an infection in the sore swollen part. She put me on antibiotics (flucloxacillin) and I have now nearly finished the course. She said that I should rest it over the weekend but this has been impossible as I've been moving house and starting a new job. So the infected bit now does look a bit better as the swelling has gone down quite a lot but it is still far from healed and still very red, I'm going to go back and see her but I'm don't have huge confidence in her.
So questions I have
- should I continue with all the antihistamines?
- I saw somewhere that steroid creams may help with the allergic reaction, any ideas about that?
- I found this page that suggests using silver sulphadiazine dressings for allergic reactions to tattoo ink, anybody know anything about it?
- has anybody got any really good suggestions of anything that i can do to make my tattoo better?! i want to use savlon on it all the time as it says "skin healing cream" on the tube, do you think this would be better than the antihistamine cream?
- how can I expect my tattoo to end up looking? I absolutely love it and need to mentally prepare myself for how it's going to end up! I don't mind so much if the bumpy-ness stays but will the red patches around some of the blue always be there? or is the blue ink going to come out altogether? and what will happen to the infected bit?
Thanks for any advice you might have, liz x

chic · Posted: Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:19 pm Post subject:

Hi lizblack, i too had the same thing go wrong with my foot tattoo, and also alergic to the red and yellow...got steroid cream but to no avail...
finally i think ive got it back to nearly 90% healed, i started to use lots of salt in my bath, and washing with non perfumed soap...
it does work, also someone mentioned [color=blue]bepanthen[/color] cream ..its a nappy rash cream.. try it you havent got much to lose...

i would never get a tattoo done in another third world country, tooo risky, your health is important...

Christin · Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2008 12:44 pm Post subject: calming down a reaction

I had the same problem but with red on my foot. I didn't get to the point of infection but I did have an allergic reaction to the red ink.
I suggest fighting the infection first. Finish your doctor perscribed antibiotics. Keep your tattoo CLEAN! If dust or dirt gets on rinse it with cool water and pat it dry.
Once any major scabs have fallen off(don't pick them off!) and it's just nasty bumpy looking skin. Infection gone but you are still reacting to the ink...
There is a product called "Mederma" used for treating scars. It's expensive, around $20.00 a tube, but worth every penny. It's avaiable at most drug stores (Walgreens, Rite Aid, Brooks).
The red on my foot was like braile two months after I got my tattoo. After two weeks of Mederma my tattoo was all flat and healed.

I am a tattoo artist and in one other case I had somebody with an allergic reaction (again on their foot). After three weeks and the scabs falling off I told her to apply the Mederma and her foot healed beautifully.
I'm not a doctor and have no medical training so if you do have an infection I can't stress enough to treat the infection FIRST under the supervision of a doctor.
Then.. Mederma, Mederma, Mederma.. to smooth out the bumps.
Apply it 3-4 times a day. It's great stuff.