What's wrong with my tattoo?

I don’t suppose you had an MRI or such recently?

@sliceswiththings No, but only people with tats from 20+ yrs or prison tatsare at risk for complications anyway. :)

Aha. Shows my age:)

Immediately thought what @sliceswiththings said. I have no idea, man.

Perhaps a dermal allergy of some sort? My rib tattoo gets absurdly itchy if my cat brushes up to it. But it’s just that tat, and I’m not allergic to fur.

I have no idea where I’m going with this.

@Grisaille sigh I tried calling the place where I had it done today, but it wasn’t open. Weird, no? I know plenty of people with huge pieces and sleeves who’ve never run into that problem. Weird.

Yeah. My rib tattoo is… very big.

Thinking on it now, I think you and I have experienced the same thing.

Go see a dermatologist-could be an infection, luke a fungal infection or ringworm-like deal, who knows…don’t wait on it though.

My tattoos swell or raise from time to time. I would say it’s normal, even though I couldn’t tell you what causes it.
I know if I scratch or brush up against one, it usually causes it to swell. The condition typically lasts for a few days. In fact, if you have another, scratch it (with your nails) and see what happens. The skin should raise where the ink is, making for a scar or brand-like effect.

Now, if your skin is leaking ink, that might be a different story.

My husband had an original Lyle Tuttle done in 1968. About 15 years ago, anything red started to swell up one night. The next morning when he took a shower, all the red washed out. It was really weird, but I guess you can reject the ink years later.

@Grisaille

You mentioned not being allergic to fur. The allergic reaction you’re experiencing from your cat is to the dander on the fur, not the fur itself.

This is a protein substance which basically comes from the cat grooming herself. Afterwards as it dries, it forms little flakes known as dander.

That’s what your body is reacting to. If you want to mitigate it or eliminate it, running a damp washcloth over her fur either daily or weekly should help a lot.

@Buttonstc I love you.

Will try. Hasn’t been a great annoyance, but – hey – if I can solve the problem, why not?

I would guess that you may have developed an allergy to the ink. Extended or prolonged exposure to certain chemicals/substances can cause an allergy to develop where there wasn’t one before. I think it’s pretty rare with tattoo ink though. Usually you hear about it with people that work for years with harsher chemicals like solvents.

You probably ought to see a doctor about it, with luck you might be able to save the tattoo, or at least prevent scarring so you can get it re-inked without trouble.

@Judi – that sounds freaky! I had no idea that could happen!

Sounds like a classic case of ‘human-making-stupid-mistake-6-years-ago-now-body-suddenly-realizes-and-tries-to-get-rid-of-it’.

Just because u don’t have the guts to get a tat HTDC, doesn’t mean you should say that.

Edit: I forgot to add ‘syndrome’ at the end of that sentence. My mistake.

@HTDC Unusual huh? Ususally that only takes nine months. ba dum-dum.

@Judi Interesting. I do hope this isn’t the case with me.

@HTDC I don’t view any of my tattoos to be mistakes or stupid choices. Feel free to leave judgmental statements out of any of my questions.