Dealing With Infected Tattoos
Mike Wamoult
A tattoo is essentially a wound when it is still fresh and due to the bruising experienced during the process of getting it, the skin will usually release a fluid that creates droplets on its surface. Minute blood particles would also be present in this fluid and when the fluid dries up they end up looking like tiny black specs on the surface of your tattoo. Now all this usually happens when you do not disturb the tattoo and the bruises. The fluid then dries along the surface together with the particles and tends to forma scab. Over a short period of time the skin would heal but if you interrupt or disturb the process you might end up having to cope with an infected tattoo.
If the damage that occurs to the skin is minimal in nature, then the rate of healing will usually depend on the level of moisture present in the area. Certain healing ointments can create the needed atmosphere for proper healing and they are: Bacitracin Zinc, A & D Ointment and Petroleum. The petroleum content in these products means that neither air nor water penetrates to the skin surface and this then creates the optimal healing condition.
When a tattoo has just been finished, no oozing occurs and the skin surface is still dry one way or the other. The application of a petroleum based product would mean the appearance of droplets of fluid because of the body's production of exudates. Exudates are needed in order to create an environment which tends to help with the quick healing of tattoos. Wounds which are maintained in a moist environment with exudates tend to suffer lesser chances of getting infected than dry wounds.
In the past people thought that petroleum in ointments would make the ink dissolve from the skin but research has proven that this is not true. It has also been proven that the constant application of antibacterial medication is not required in order to eliminate the possibility of infection. The constant application of antibacterial medication is even detrimental to the healing process. Simply applying ointment and plastic wrapping for when you shower or sleep for a number of days will help protect your tattoo under difficult conditions.
Tattoos may get infected for a whole number of reasons and usually when these reasons occur various symptoms tend to indicate that a tattoo is infected, these symptoms include: Increased pain, swelling, redness, heat, or tenderness around the tattoo, red streaks extending from the area, pus coming from the wound, swollen or tender lymph nodes, or fever.
The clear fluid which usually drains from a tattoo may change to creamy yellow, brown or red if the tattoo gets infected, this fluid may also start to smell like pus. Infection may also possibly occur deep inside the wound with no signs reflected but intense pain and swelling.
Sometimes the skin over a tattoo may heal but an infection may be present in the depths of the wound, this would usually result in a more serious situation such as an abscess. Failure to heal this infected tattoo may lead to it spreading within the bones or joints and it may become septic and infect the whole body.
Usually you will need an antibiotic to heal the infected tattoo; a doctor may also recommend that you take blood tests depending on the particular circumstances under which you received the tattoo. An infected tattoo should be treated by keeping it dry as much as possible, water tends to be the greatest enemy of a healing tattoo.
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