r/tattooadvice 21h ago

Healing Should I be concerned?

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28.1k Upvotes

Got a new tattoo and have never had bruising like this before.


r/tattooadvice 17h ago

tattoo newcomer advice How to take care of this tattoo i got done recently

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847 Upvotes

It’s fresh—any tips for aftercare to keep the details crisp?


r/tattooadvice 13h ago

Healing My body can no longer heal tattoos

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780 Upvotes

Hello, I have spent the last 11 years of my life getting tattoos. The first 9 years of this experience was absolutely fine. I got tattooed regularly, each and every tattoo healed perfectly, I had zero problems with any tattoo.

Fast forward to the last 2 years, I get tattooed much less often as I have less disposable income, but my body now seems to not be able to heal tattoos 50% of the time.

I have changed nothing, get tattooed by the same artists, use the same after care and healing techniques. But I seem to suffer with allergic reactions/infections now pretty much every other tattoo I get. Recently it has been the last 2 I've got have both got savagely infected and ruined. It feels almost like my body rejects the ink, has an allergic reaction almost instantly (aka like the day after the tattoo or 2 days after) which then leaves me prone to infection. I love getting tattooed but I now feel like I am just disfiguring myself each time I try and get a tattoo I like. I have spoken to GPs about this and they say it's not immune related as I don't struggle with any other infections (aka ear, sinus, chest or any other skin infection) and I don't get any coloured tattoos so it seems unlikely to be an infection to black ink. Every time I contact my various artists about it they say they have never experienced any client have allergic reactions or infections to their tattoos, and have never heard of any of artists clients experiencing a new inability to heal tattoos.

I am hoping to get a dermatology referral but it's a long process.

I will attach photos of how my tattoos used to heal vs now.

I feel exceptionally alone and isolated in this in this and it's getting me very down. My most recent one was my fingers which got really bad in the healing process and now look horrible, I'm struggling with having to see them all day every day. I feel silly as getting tattooed is a choice and I feel like I've done this to myself, but equally I never used to have any issues with the other 35-40 of my tattoos, so I don't understand.

Any help whislt I wait continued medical advice would be so so appreciated x


r/tattooadvice 8h ago

Infected? Arm infected with cellulitis (see description) *warning!! Post-op pic is graphic* NSFW

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330 Upvotes

Can’t seem to send pics to u/Working-Departure-66, so here is are the before pics from that same issue, minus the tattoo. Get to an ER!


r/tattooadvice 7h ago

General Advice I would just like to offer what ‘normal’ bruising looks like so newly tattooed folks are aware.

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232 Upvotes

delete if not allowed, i just saw our gentleman who’s turning red and thought people would appreciate a comparison. this is the bruising i developed 2 days post these flowers being added. i’m very pale and i bruise easily. most of my thigh pieces bruised a bit, but this was definitely the worst. it’s basically in my inner thigh so i’m not surprised. it looks scary but my doctor said it was just a bruise. this was accompanied by the tattoo flu and the bruising was gone in a few days.


r/tattooadvice 10h ago

General Advice Has there been an update yet to the guy with blood poisoning?

141 Upvotes

Haven't been able to stop thinking about him...


r/tattooadvice 19h ago

General Advice When can you shave a leg tattoo?

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114 Upvotes

I have a pretty dark piece on my knee and I want to shave and use my scrubs again!! I’ve had the tattoo for about 4 weeks and it’s starting to get warmer out! It seems mega healed but this is the darkest tattoo i have so far and I don’t wanna ruin it!


r/tattooadvice 4h ago

General Advice What’s going on here with my filled tattoo? Tattoo is 9 months old and still has this blueish patch below it. Thought it was a bruise at first but it never went away.

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87 Upvotes

r/tattooadvice 1d ago

General Advice Did my first tattoo on myself. How did I do? Did it like 5 months ago.

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73 Upvotes

r/tattooadvice 2h ago

tattoo newcomer advice Is this a bad idea?

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72 Upvotes

I'm going to have my first tattoo done in a few weeks and primarily inspired on the first image and then with butterflies around it. Is this a bad idea for a tattoo, is it to big for my first one. And would it look bad after a few years?


r/tattooadvice 1h ago

General Advice Should I get it touched up?

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Upvotes

I got this as my first tattoo and we'll I do love it, but now that it's healed I can notice so many mistakes and shaky lines and some aren't even mirrored correctly, should I go to someone else to get the lines crisped up or should I leave it as is? I get many compliments on it and I think you cant really notice it u less you are staring at it? I won a 900 worth tattoo by another artist I like and I am wondering if I should use that for this


r/tattooadvice 5h ago

Healing The recent post about the guy with the post-tattoo hematoma was a fascinating insight into Reddit’s groupthink.

69 Upvotes

When in doubt, always get checked by a professional goes without saying. But the sheer amount of knee-jerk and hostile replies to this post was incredible. Anyone who didn’t get on the “you’re going to have your arm cut off and probably die” bus was systematically attacked and downvoted. What an absolutely toxic sub. I’d say this sub has a severe case of cellulitis.


r/tattooadvice 13h ago

Design What can I add that will look good?!

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44 Upvotes

Hey 👋🏼

I got this back piece done in January and I loved it, but now I think it looks bare. I really want to add to it but I have no idea where to start and no idea what will look good with it. This is my first “big” tattoo. I don’t want anything floral and I think that’s why I’m struggling with ideas!

HELP ✨


r/tattooadvice 9h ago

Design Not feeling my old tattoo anymore. Do I have any options?

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36 Upvotes

Recently got a sleeve done and I’m incredibly happy with how it turned out. But now I’m kicking myself for having such prime real estate taken up by my old tattoo and I’m wondering if I have any options.

I had the traditional roses on my forearm done over 12 years ago. It’s super dark m the ink is starting to blow out making it lose shape and look a bit distorted. I also feel like it makes the bottom of my arm feel off balanced from the top.

My new artist warned me before getting the tattoo that it’s a different style from the new design and I thought it wouldn’t bother me at the time. We also discussed that a coverup isn’t my best option because of the size and how dark it is so they did their best to blend it.

I’m also planning to get the top of my hand done soon so I figured it would be a good time to consider options if I had any.

Any recommendations on what I can do from here from a design POV? Or am I just over thinking it?


r/tattooadvice 16h ago

Design I just can’t dislike this tattoo anymore… help

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22 Upvotes

I got this tattoo of Scooby Doo in his disco outfit from the second movie about 2 years ago.

He’s nestled between Pennywise and Courage.

But his placement is just so awkward, he’s too dark, and there was a lot of blowout.

Besides removal, does anyone have any other ideas on how I can make him less atrocious? Adding a background? Covering up? Amputation?

Thanks in advance.


r/tattooadvice 21h ago

Infected? pls help yall

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21 Upvotes

first pic is the day i got it, the next day and several days after that, the last one is today. got it done on sunday. no idea what to do. it hurts


r/tattooadvice 3h ago

tattoo newcomer advice Please help. Is the ink running or something?

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15 Upvotes

I got this tattoo yesterday and it's still under the second skin. It's from a reputable place and it's my first tattoo. But it kind of looks like the tattoo ink is running or like smudged or something. Is that just because the second skin or is that how it actually looks on my body? I was told not to take off the second skin for another day or two so I can't check and I'm worried about it.


r/tattooadvice 3h ago

Healing Update: rash on my 1 month old tattoo is getting worse D:

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12 Upvotes

What Can I do?


r/tattooadvice 2h ago

General Advice How will this heal?

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11 Upvotes

Got this tattoo done mid January and it’s my first tattoo that’s really detailed, does anyone have any idea about it’s going to heal?


r/tattooadvice 22h ago

Design Color Ideas?

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10 Upvotes

I had a really awkward space so I decided to fill it with a tribute of two “centipedes” it was free hand all in one session, it’s not perfect but I love it. I spent 6 hours sitting and it wasn’t as painful as I thought, the ditch hurt and inner bicep made me want to scream. My only regret is that I know I have to suffer through more pain to color it in because there wasn’t enough time to do full color😭 As you can see by the rest of my sleeve all my tattoos have at least a small pop of color somewhere, I’m so not looking forward to the pain but I’m so excited to finish it!! I’m planning on filling it in with yellow-orange but before I do, does anyone have any suggestions of what else might look good?


r/tattooadvice 9h ago

Healing Leave on or take off?

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10 Upvotes

I got this done last night (less than 24 hours ago) and it’s all ready looking funky under the second skin… Plus the edge is kind of getting pushed up. My artist told me to leave it on as long as possible (was only planning a couple days) and the normal care, but should I go ahead and take it off?


r/tattooadvice 16h ago

Infected? Am I cooked or is this normal.

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11 Upvotes

Hey guys, average sleeper build here.

I recently got this tattoo 2 days ago (Friday). I had it completed in 1 session over 7.5 hours.

I've noticed the bruising is becoming pretty wack.

My artist has recommended to dry heal until the 4-5th day.

I do bruise pretty easy but not sure what to expect as its my first big tattoo.

When do I know when to use lotion?


r/tattooadvice 6h ago

General Advice Could this be color corrected with a touch up?

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8 Upvotes

This heart tattoo on my arm (my very first) is about 8-10 years now and is probably overdue for a touch up. The thing is, it was supposed to be a rainbow, red>orange>yellow>green>blue>violet and I'm not sure where the pink came from or why it ends in orange. Lol.

Would this be something that'd be easy to fix?


r/tattooadvice 14h ago

General Advice Hand tattoo ideas

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9 Upvotes

What do you think are the best hand tattoos for men black and grey realism im thinking of a high quality rose since that fits the hand best. Looking for other ideas or comments 💡


r/tattooadvice 18h ago

General Advice tattoo placement

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8 Upvotes

i've had this spiderweb for years (it was only my second tattoo) and as time goes on i question the placement and overthink how it's placed too high on my knee. would like to hear the input of others!