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Ink Trails Tattoo Forum _ General Tattoo Discussion _ How Much Swelling Is Normal?
Posted by: amybird Oct 10 2009, 05:14 AM
Hello there.
Had a fourth session on my arm yesterday, and my skin seems to be reacting quite differently to the previous three times.
There seems to be something going on beyond the normal soreness and bit of red that's similar to what you get if the skin has a scratch or shallow cut.
My upper arm is visibly swollen (not just the tattooed skin from the trauma), and an area of skin a couple of inches wide around the edge of the tattoo is quite pink. As I said, this seems different from usual - obviously I appreciate that skin tattooed 24 hours ago is going to look a bit sore. In one area there's a tiny bit of blue dotting, like very very faint bruising.
The tattoo itself looks ok I think.... nothing is oozing. It looks quite yellow in places, but there is a lot of white ink so it's hard to tell what's going on.
Keeping it clean of course, and I bought some antiseptic salve today, reluctantly, which I don't normally use, as an extra precaution. It's very thick and was impossible to apply in a thin layer without dragging the skin too much, and seems to have formed quite a thick barrier over the skin. Norwegian product selection = often frustrating.
Maybe it'll be totally fine by tomorrow, but I thought I'd better mention it. Is it something to do with the white ink? Had thin white lines in a previous session, which were fine, but this time it was used in a much greater quantity.
Anyone had anything similar? How long until I should worry?
Posted by: ink-sink Oct 10 2009, 05:28 AM
i dont think anyone here is really qualified to say - if you have ANY worry it cant hurt to go see a doctor who can see it and have a little better knowledge to what may be going on
hope that helps you out
Posted by: Stoneface Oct 10 2009, 08:27 AM
Replying to How Much Swelling Is Normal?
Not that much.
Posted by: J.D. Oct 10 2009, 09:11 AM
A guaranteed way to make sure it's okay would be to go see your doctor. If it were me, I'd let my artist know what's going on, and then watch it closely for a day or two more. If there's any change, like oozing, pussing, more swelling, or if it stays really warm to the touch in that time, I'd say it was infected. Though, it could very well be that he just beat you up a bit, and your a little more swollen and a little bruised. If you're really worried, go see a doc.
Posted by: amybird Oct 10 2009, 09:32 AM
Thanks. Pretty much the replies I expected, but I thought it'd be best to give it a mention, incase it rang any alarm bells. Will see how it looks by Monday then make a decision (to amputate/not to amputate 
)
Posted by: Jake_BlackSwan Oct 10 2009, 04:01 PM
Not that much.
I would say there is no such thing as normal. I've had sessions when my arm almost hasn't swelled at all and others were it swelled quite a lot. My calf swelled up to almost twice the size and was sore for a week. Same artist, same colors. Nothing different in his
tattooing technique. The body is a weird thing.
Posted by: amybird Oct 10 2009, 11:39 PM
Well I woke up at 6am with a wet arm. Thought at first I'd been sweating in my sleep then realised it was just the sleeve of my t-shirt which looked like someone had put blobs of water on. No blood, just plain cold wetness. My skin was broken in places with ink coming out of the parts where the white and mint green (Eternal Inks btw) were blended together, but the part with the darker green seemed intact. I think the salve stuff the three vacant women in the chemist gave me probably didn't help. Got up and washed and put a clean t-shirt on, and woke up now with no further leakage, but you can see the skin is still broken in places and the ink is shiny.
Still some swelling, which is more like a fluidy sagging. Meh.
Any further thoughts?
Posted by: inkling Oct 11 2009, 12:14 AM
tattooing technique. The body is a weird thing.
i would say that same thing. reading the fluidy saggy part, i'm not sure quite what that is refering to.
Posted by: amybird Oct 11 2009, 12:35 AM
The swelling in my arm.
Posted by: amybird Oct 11 2009, 01:13 AM
Edit: Sorry, what I meant is, the swelling around my arm isn't firm, it's more like there is extra fluid under the skin, causing it to look heavy. Like the difference between a balloon full of air and one just partly filled with water.
Posted by: lilbit78 Oct 11 2009, 03:55 AM
like a blister thats been torn open yet still w a bit of fluid...keep your eye on it. Is it still red? swollen? hot?
Posted by: Shaz Oct 11 2009, 04:06 AM
It could be a cellulitus infection. Especially if it is warm/hot & red. I'd be going to the doctors.
Posted by: Stoneface Oct 11 2009, 08:22 AM
tattooing technique. The body is a weird thing.
i agree that the body is a wierd thing but I'm going on my knowledge AS A TATTOOIST...not by my knowledge as a TATTOOEE. This is obviously a case of overwork due to the amount of white and yellow within the Tattoo.
Posted by: J.D. Oct 11 2009, 09:03 AM
Take a picture for us.
Posted by: amybird Oct 11 2009, 09:22 AM
My powers of description must be poor... re the swelling/fluid-filled thing I was trying to describe...basically it was like my arm had a case of water retention. That seems to be going down a bit now but it's hard to tell.
If there's still anything interesting to look at tomorrow I'll take a pic. Really hard to tell whether the yellow is normal or not coz the white ink makes it so misleading.
I sent a message to my tattooist about waking up with a wet arm this morning, with ink oozing out, he said that sounds normal 
Is oozing ink normal in the world of those who put stuff on their tattoos within the first 48 hours? I only did it as a precaution, whereas usually I leave it clean and dry.
Posted by: J.D. Oct 11 2009, 09:34 AM
If there's still anything interesting to look at tomorrow I'll take a pic. Really hard to tell whether the yellow is normal or not coz the white ink makes it so misleading.
I sent a message to my tattooist about waking up with a wet arm this morning, with ink oozing out, he said that sounds normal
Is oozing ink normal in the world of those who put stuff on their tattoos within the first 48 hours? I only did it as a precaution, whereas usually I leave it clean and dry.Yes, your tattoo can seep for a day or two. How long depends on a lot of things. How heavy your artists hand is can be a factor. Your health and diet can contribute as well. I don't like the sound of that "salve" you're using either. Keep an eye on it Amy, and if it gets any worse, go see a doctor. You get free health care in your country right?
Posted by: amybird Oct 11 2009, 09:38 AM
Near enough to free for money not to be a factor in whether or not one is allowed to have health
Posted by: Stoneface Oct 11 2009, 10:52 AM
I'm with J.D. on that thick salve and wanted to say something about it in my first post.
I tried to EDIT my previous post so:
1) I didn't come-off like a $mart a$$(sorry if so)
2) Mention the salve
3) remove what I said about the Yello/White(1 possability of hundreds).
4) mention other possabilities.
You also mentioned in your first post clues that led me to believe there may have been some depth issues involved as well, but all variables are hard to determine without seeing it.
How clean is the shop? Work-Area? Autoclave? ...everything Sterile? etc...
Just my 2 cents.
Posted by: amybird Nov 6 2009, 12:43 AM
Realised I never updated this.
Well I think it was all just down to how hard he pounded the white ink in. Took ages to heal. (After my previous shading and colouring sessions, the scabs were all off within 4 to 7 days).
There was massive monster scabbing over all the parts where the most white had been used. Took 2.5 weeks for the last of the really thick scabs to fall off, and there are several patches of inkless pink scarring, some of which is still raised above the surface.
No pics yet. Haven't actually taken any pics since the shading session, which shows my general indifference to this unfinished thing on my arm. Wish I had "dumped" my tattooist before the colouring started, because it looks so very unfinished at the moment. Ah well.
Posted by: savi Nov 6 2009, 02:44 AM
from what was described i would assume ( and i know that assumptions are the mother of all fuck-ups ) that you were 'leaking' large amounts of plasma. this could be due to overworking of the area, followed up by applying too much petroleum based products, and or water logging during the aftercare. You have to let your skin heal itself. Anything you apply to the surface is either going to help or hinder the process, but regardless of what you put on, the skin is going to do the healing. i tend to avoid petroleum altogether, during and after the tat.
Posted by: amybird Nov 6 2009, 03:09 AM
Yeh I agree. I usually dry-heal, and only resorted to the antiseptic because I was worried there was some infection and wouldn't have had the option of seeing a doc for a couple of days.
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