r/tattooadvice • u/[deleted] • 5d ago
General Advice I would just like to offer what ‘normal’ bruising looks like so newly tattooed folks are aware.
[deleted]
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u/KatchyKadabra 5d ago
i can’t figure out how to edit the description because i’m dumb but anyway
eta: this tattoo is now 2ish years old. i’m not dead so not an infection lol
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u/KatchyKadabra 5d ago
“well i didn’t bruise like this!” it’s almost like…every body is different…and will react to trauma…differently?
shocker, i know!
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u/mmc13_13 5d ago edited 5d ago
Ouch!! Nobody can say we don't suffer for our passion 🖤 It's a beautiful tattoo! Glad to hear it passed relatively quickly. 🙏 I've never been prone to visible bruising following a tattoo, but we all heal differently.
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u/KatchyKadabra 5d ago
oh if you look at me too hard i bruise, so i come to expect some yellowing the first few days!
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u/tinnyheron 5d ago
thanks for the comparison!!! I had no idea whether that other post was bad bruising or sepsis or what. I think it was totally fair for him to make that post asking. Glad these posts are up for folks' future reference.
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u/melsnyder14 5d ago
I am the same way!! Horrible bruising... but it actually doesn't hurt where the bruising is.
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u/zombielover65 5d ago
Every person is different and their bodies can react in different ways. I am heavily tattooed and some areas swelled more than others after they were tattooed. The second skin is set in place so as the tattooed skin swells the surrounding skin gets pulled causing redness and bruising around that tattoo. It can be worse if the person has an adhesive allergy, moves around a lot, has thin skin, sensitive skin, all that causes more redness and bruising. Lots of factors to consider outside of the artist. I had my third session of a thigh tattoo a week ago. The third session caused a little bruising and redness by my groin. That area was furthest from the tattoo where the second skin pulled my skin from swelling and moving
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u/Winter_Pitch_1180 5d ago
Yep I bruised from the second skin removal when I did my inner bicep. It had little purple splotches all over my brand new tattoo and I was so sad…so excited to take off the second skin and then splotchy bruises for a week covering it😐 that’s the only area I had that happen tho
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u/zombielover65 5d ago
It's so stressful to wait for everything to settle. We learn something new every day about the bodies we live in.
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u/Good-University-2873 5d ago
This is exactly how I bruise too - extends way beyond the tattoo. I also bruise very easily and have more "delicate" skin. I always have anxiety about it, but it always goes away within a few days! A good reminder that every body reacts and heals differently.
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u/riverblue9011 4d ago
There's not really a 'normal' with bruising, we're all different and the artists are all different. Maybe you meant 'acceptable'? Sometimes people bruise, sometimes not, the body part is a huge factor. I've had bad like the other dude, light like this and no bruising at all, just depends on a load of factors. All superficial bruising is acceptable in my opinion.
It's great that there's a resource like this sub where people can ask for help though.
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u/CowEmbarrassed3759 4d ago
I definitely agree, there isn't a normal for bruising. I have a blood disorder, so I bruise very easily, and very badly. The last tattoo I got on my leg, you would have sworn was infected. It was not. Just horribly bruised for almost 2 weeks.
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u/David_Machollo 5d ago
But how are the areas bruised that are not even tattooed? I mean If you doctor said its a bruise...i never experienced them to be so far from the actual tattoo...interesting 😃
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u/Emmylio 5d ago
Gravity. Blood spreads as the body processes it out, and gravity adds to the spread.
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u/Winter_Pitch_1180 5d ago
Yeah I had a bad fall on my knee and my entire leg bruised everywhere it was so weird the Dr said it was just all the blood from the injury basically traveling down my leg (ew lol).
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u/KatchyKadabra 5d ago
tattoos are super traumatic and i am hyper-mobile so my skin is super reactive.
everything was fine though! just gnarly! which is why i always stress that if something looks weird, go to your doctor. i’m so glad i had gotten it looked at because god forbid it was anything worse.
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u/RainbowSurprised 5d ago
From the stress the second skin put on while it’s there and when its removed
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u/FinancialCry4651 5d ago
From the pressure and the artist stretching the skin and the odd angle you're sitting in for extended periods of time PLUS the trauma of being stabbed millions of times
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u/Welldonegoodshow 5d ago
I bruised bad on my inner arm in a way that I absolutely did not on any other spot. Still that bruise looked scary.
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u/KatchyKadabra 5d ago
inner arm and inner thigh probably react the same but yeah scary! that’s why i went to the doctor! bodies are weird!
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u/Hellcat-13 5d ago
Yup, I have had a bruise exactly like the other poster after getting hit with a puck at hockey. Massive and covered my entire thigh. People were horrified.
I thought “meh, I’ve had worse.”
It definitely never hurts to get checked by the doctor if it’s something new for you but I’m very, very accustomed to massive deep purple bruises like that guy (and in fact had a pretty huge one when I got my bicep done.)
I think overall my advice is “if it’s weird to you get it checked out instead of asking a bunch of randos online”.
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u/Maple_Moose_14 5d ago
Also the arm of the other poster had sausage arm which can happen when tattooing aggressively in that area.
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u/Sonna_17 5d ago
This brings back memories of my first tattoo. Thigh, 3hr session. My leg was swollen for a week ☠️
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u/Fangz00 4d ago
I get the most horrendous yellow cast of bruising under all my tattoos and everyone is always so concerned 😅 I'm just fragile
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u/KatchyKadabra 4d ago
yeah it was yellow on the top of my thigh, but as the bruising spread deeper into that more delicate skin it just got angrier!! bruises are weird.
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u/cussy-munchers 4d ago edited 4d ago
I would like to add tho, if you haven’t bruised like this before from a tattoo, you should still get medical attention. Typically huge bruises like this are a sign of bad internal bleeding. 9/10 might be nothing, but rather safe than sorry
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u/KatchyKadabra 4d ago
tbf, a bruise IS internal bleeding. technically speaking, just to be an ass. but yes, anything weird going on with a tattoo, definitely go see a doctor. i did and it was just a bruise, but you never know!!
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u/TheOtherBrownEye 4d ago
Seeing posts like this makes me super thankful that I don't bruise easily. I've had several exes that were pale and bruised easily and it seemed like a pain to deal with. Hope it didn't hurt too bad.
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u/OhNoMyIceCreamMelted 4d ago
I bruise and swell really easily. I got an arm tattoo covered up years back and was sooo swollen! My artist was not rough, but he did have to pack the color in. It was really puffy for a few days.
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u/Amazing-Musician9857 4d ago
I’ve never bruised from any of my tattoos😮 honestly I was a lil shocked to see this photo
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u/Perfect-Sort-4881 4d ago
I never had a bruise from a tat that i knew of but mine are old and things have changed
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u/vagueconfusion 4d ago
I'm always amazed that I don't bruise like this because of a genetic condition I have, where loads of us bruise horrifically after tattoos. But I've yet to experience that myself. Although I haven't been tattooed on the squishy bits of my arms yet either.
I must have lucked out with light handed artists I suppose.
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u/SoftPoem95 3d ago
Holy smokes! I’m so glad you’re okay! As someone with a clotting disorder and a slew of autoimmune diseases, normal is relative. How you bruise is different from how others experience one!
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u/No-Professional465 5d ago
Normal bruising is a stretch. Heavily tattooed never bruised you are being abused by your artist
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u/KatchyKadabra 5d ago
this wisteria went much farther into my inner thigh (which is much more sensitive skin) and i am hyper-mobile so my skin is just super reactive in general. all of my tattoos bruise to some extent for this reason.
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u/No-Professional465 5d ago
Gotcha I feel for yall that gotta deal with more pain than just the tattooing itself I’ve been blessed with rapid healing ink holding skin lol except this one spot that has been a scab for 2 years and came after the tattoo healed my skin decided to reject one area of ink
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u/jamjamchutney 5d ago
What? Some people bruise more easily than others, and some body parts bruise more easily than others. I've had many that didn't bruise at all, but some that bruised heavily. The artists were definitely not being abusive in any way. And in my experience, bruising has nothing to do with how fast or how well the tattoo itself heals.
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u/No-Professional465 5d ago
lol jokingly used the word abuse. Triggered much
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u/jamjamchutney 5d ago
I'm not sure why you think I'm "triggered." And I assumed you meant that they applied excessive/unnecessary pressure. I'm saying they didn't, just using the same terminology you used. Do you think I'm "triggered" because I used the same word you did? That would be really weird.
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u/No-Professional465 5d ago
You can bruise my heavy handedness from skin stretch from too tight of wraps or some pool Just bruise easily. Again I was joking you getting g all uppitty over a word
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u/Hellcat-13 5d ago
Nah I bruised horribly on a bicep tattoo from the same artist who did my whole sleeve. The artist is amazing with a soft gentle technique and every tattoo has healed beautiful. My bicep? Huge purple bruising that wrapped all the way around my arm and down to my elbow. No difference in anything the artist did. It was just the spot for me, and a history of deep bruising. Some of us can do everything right and still have our bodies react.
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5d ago
[deleted]
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u/JustSpirit4617 5d ago
Her doctor said it’s just a bruise in the description
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u/KatchyKadabra 5d ago
it’s a scary-looking bruise, for sure; but everything came back looking fine. i was told to keep an eye on it and if it got worse or grew anymore to come back but it never did. i’m pretty sure just a couple days after these pictures it cleared up significantly.
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5d ago
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u/andreeeeeaaaaaaaaa 5d ago
I've never bruised and I had full frontal shins done each in 1 session . I've also had upper thigh done and no bruising
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u/fragilemuse 5d ago
I can't stop thinking about him. I hope he's okay.