YOU might think your fresh ink will stay looking the same forever.
It’s easy to be fooled in this way, as most artists advertising tattoos they’ve done will only show freshly done, crisp designs.
So you might be taken by surprise if your design starts to fade, bleed or even ‘fall off’.
This can happen due to the placement of your tattoo or because of how deep your artist placed the ink.
“Artists on Instagram want to put their best foot forward and most will post photographs of their fresh tattoos,” according to Inked Magazine.
“However, a tattoo only stays fresh for an extremely short period of time and it’s important for consumers to be conscious about the reality of healed tattoos.”
Here are five things that could happen to your tattoo that could indicate it’s healing poorly.
1. Raised lines
You might think raised lines on your tattoo are pretty normal – you’re having ink scratched into your skin, after all.
But if your design is raised like a scar would be, it means that your artist went too deep when tattooing you.
2. Extreme fading
It’s normal for your tattoo to fade a little over time – it won’t look as crisp and clean as when you first got it forever.
But extreme fading is definitely out of the ordinary and is a result of “poor technical application”, according to Inked.
In this case, instead of your artist going too deep, it means they haven’t gone deep enough with their needle.
If this happens, it means your tattoo won’t stick and will be more prone to rapid fading.
3. Ink blowing out
Another thing that can happen if your tattooer goes too deep is something called blowouts.
Ink will spill throughout layers of the skin rather than in a concentrated spot, resulting in a blurry backdrop to your design.
This can show up immediately after your get your tattoo done, but many people tend to notice it only after the tattoo is healed.
4. Infection
An infected tattoo is what most of us fear when getting inked.
The most common symptoms of this include a rash or bumpy, red skin around the area.
This may last for a few days or the discomfort can carry on for a week or more – you should definitely contact your tattoo artist or a doctor at this point.
If you come down with a fever, get waves of hot and cold and swelling, pus, red lesions or streaking around the area of your tattoo, these are surefire signs you should seek medical help.
Unfortunately, getting an infection can dramatically affect how your ink looks afterwards. It can be altered to varying degrees, depending on how bad your infection was.
5. Ink ‘fall out’
If your ink is applied poorly or to a tricky location like your hands, it can actually cause the pigment to fall out.
You’ll know this has happened if you notice large chunks missing from saturated areas of your tattoo.
Fall out can also happen if you pick or scratch at your tattoo scabs.