Help, my tattoo scabbed badly, and underneath the scabs there’s no ink?
I got a tattoo of five Japanese characters on the inside of my upper arm about 11 days ago. Despite following the aftercare guidelines exactly—washing 2-3 times a day with antibacterial soap, patting it dry with a towel, and moisturizing—I noticed that it has scabbed quite badly. I visited the tattoo artist yesterday to ask his opinion, as this is my first tattoo and I am unsure about what to expect. He reassured me that it should be fine and that healing takes time. He mentioned that if there was any missing color, he would redo it for me. However, I woke up this morning to find that one of the scabs had peeled off during the night, leaving a sore patch with no visible ink underneath! Will it look better once it has fully healed, or have I done something wrong? Has anyone else experienced this?
4 Answers
Feb 18, 2025
To me it sounds like the ink wasn’t put deep enough, or if you experienced serious scabbing, it was possibly put too deep.
If this is the case it is nothing you have done, I have dry healed tattoos, used loads of product and everything in between and never experienced ink loss such as you describe.
you may even be allergic to that particular ink, in which case your body has rejected it. Being allergic to one ink does not mean you will be allergic to all ink, so don’t despair
Bear in mind that it is normal for a tattoo to ᴘᴇᴇl (light flakey ‘scab’, which it is quite normal for the scab to contain the excess ink and so it will be the colour of bit of the tattoo it comes away from) it’s alarming if it’s your first tattoo, but normal.
most new tattoos need touch ups which are usually free, bu if you have experienced major/total ink loss from your tatt. that is not right
I would wait till it’s done scabbing then go to a different artist and get their opinion
Jan 09, 2025
You dried the ink out. So when you scabbed and rubbed it fell off into the dead skin as well. It’s going to require a touch up.
Also
Try avoiding lotion with smell or color, just a basic moisturizing lotion works best
Pat the ink both in the shower with your sponge and while drying off.
Apply the moisturizer twice a day and keep the ink out of direct sun light.
If the scabbing is as bad as it sounds, looks like your artist severly overworked your skin.
Scabbing, if any should be minimal. Inner bicept is a sensitive area w/ thinner skin compared to the outter bicept, thus it needs to be worked more gently.
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