What could be the reason for the black outline of my tattoo to become raised?

Is it a new tattoo? That’s pretty common if so. It is just an inflammatory response, and will go away without any trouble most of the time. I suppose it is possible that the needle was dirty and you are getting an infection. If it gets worse, you might want to have it checked out, but I don’t think that’s very likely. I always get raised areas after tattooing, and it has never been a problem.

The red in my husbands tattoo raised after 20 years then all the red just disappeared. It washed off in the shower the next morning. It’s sad because it was an original Lyle Tuttle from the 60’s.

Fresh tattoos raise up, its the skin’s response to the injury. It should fade after a day or so. Soon, the thing will start to itch as it heals. That can drive you crazy. Don’t scratch; slap it, or run cool water over it. As long as you keep applying the ointment to it to keep it moist, infection shouldn’t be a problem.

Sometimes my head tattoo will do that, I’m not sure why, but since it healed long ago, I really don’t worry about it. Just some sort of skin response to external stimuli, I suppose. Perhaps it has something to do with the ways your hairs stand when you get scared, or even cold.

A tattoo is the same as surgery, and the tattoo, like a surgical wound, should be treated with the same respect and cleanliness. Keep it clean and you should have no problems.

If it’s fresh, being raised is normal.
My husband has some raised tattoos, but its from constant picking at them when he had gotten them.

Oh, I meant to put that in the details. It’s not fresh; it’s about 8 months old now.

@Judi Yikes! That’s very sad. I hope that doesn’t happen to mine. Did you ever figure out what caused it?

We just assumed that he developed an allergy to the ink 20 years later and his body rejected it.

The outlines of tattoos are generally cut deeper into the skin to stop bleeding of the colours. This skin over a tattoo is really scar tissue, and the scarring is likely to be slightly worse on the outline. I’m not dermatologist, but I’m thinking that if you’ve done something to irritate your skin / scar tissue, like maybe being out in the sun, that could make the skin there slightly inflamed. I wouldn’t worry about it, but would guess that if the skin around it were to become inflamed or if it were to last too long then it’s probably worth getting checked out.

your body may be rejecting it
the ink might have been bad

It could be a number of things. Perhaps it is scarred and it’s raised a bit. But more than likely it’s the ink. Most inks have a small portions of plastic bits. When you get hot and sweaty sometimes those bits swell which makes the area raise. Sometimes the raised area may itch. I would say it isn’t anything to worry about. If you have other questions. Ask your artist, they know best. Hope this helped.

It happens to my black and my red occasionally, and my tattoos aren’t new. I’ve noticed the black raises whenever I stick my arm in the fishtank to clean it, and my red (only the red on my back) raises mostly in the heat. Red is the most irritating color for most people, and some people are allergic more than others. It also is a sign that the color may have been put in too fast (too much at once instead of layering) and too deep.

The white ink in my tattoo has always been raised for some reason.