Monday October 29th, 2007 @ 3:48 AM
About a year ago in a stupid, art school-inflicted lapse of judgment, I gave myself a homemade tattoo using an X-acto knife and India Ink. Completely and utterly stupid, I know, but I was not in my normal frame of mind that day. Anyway, most of it fell out but it’s mostly still there. On one part of my ankle where there isn’t much ink, though, I’ve had this itchy sensation. It’s come and gone and hasn’t been too bad or anything so I let it go but tonight I scratched it and it burned a little. The skin is rough as well. Is this an infection or something I need to seek medical attention for, or is it just something stupid I have to live with? And would I be able to see my regular tattoo artist for advice or should I just see a doctor? Thanks.
X-acto Knife? daaaaamn! Whatever happened to the back in the day method of using a safety pin or sewing needle or something? hahaha we all have lapse in judgment from time to time.
Personally I’d say your best bet is to consult with a doctor/dermatologist and have them analyze the tissue. So that by going to see a doctor/dermatologist you’ll be able to get a more accurate answer and potentially something to deal with the situation.
+2 / 2 votes 
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Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | Comments
Saturday October 27th, 2007 @ 8:30 PM
I’m not sure if this question has been answered or not but here goes: I just recently got a tattoo about a week ago and just today found out that I’m pregnant. Will this have any effect on my baby?
First of all, congratulations! I’ve recently discovered that we’re in the family way as well (I’m just over nine weeks pregnant as of this writing), isn’t it just the most exciting thing? It’s like joining some secret women’s club or something, ha ha!
It’s not ideal to get pierced or tattooed during pregnancy, and most reputable artists won’t even touch you if they know you are pregnant (because, from a liability standpoint, nobody wants to be the last person who did anything to your body before you miscarried, not to put too fine a point on it). Your immune system becomes depressed during pregnancy, and healing will certainly be impacted by that, and it’s just common sense not to put too much stress on your body while it’s working on such an important project - pregnancy is, after all, a temporary condition, and you can easily put off any projects for a few months until Bubs is here!
All of that being said, however, no, the fact that got tattooed before you knew you were pregnant really shouldn’t have any effect on your baby. I’m assuming that you went to a clean and reputable artists and the tattoo was done with sterile equipment, of course, but I can’t imagine any serious risk/trauma/stress to the developing foetus just from the act of Mum receiving a tattoo. I’ve known lots of women who quite intentionally got pierced and tattooed during their pregnancies - I’m reserving comment on that, much as I’m reserving comment on women who smoke and drink throughout their pregnancy - and their babies were fine, at the end of the day. Almost all pregnant women do SOMEthing naughty during their first few weeks of pregnancy, because they don’t know they’re up the duff yet, and their kids are fine and any dramas, if they have them, are unrelated. Don’t worry too much about it, just be good from here on in and take care of yourself and your bub!
0 / 0 votes 
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Posted by Lori St.Leone | Permalink | 3 Comments
Saturday October 27th, 2007 @ 8:09 PM
Heya, this one’s for Lori or Warren!
Im currently located in Adelaide and was wondering if you know any reputable piercers who you feel would be able to perform dermal anchors.
Also where you suggest going to get tattooed, thanks heaps!
I’m spearheading a movement to get all our Aussie readers to call Warren “Wozza” from now on. C’mon, you know you want to. I’m just trying to help him feel more at home here Down Under, you understand. 
And for all of our other readers all over the world, don’t worry about it, it’s an Aussie thing. 
I honestly don’t know who I’d recommend in Adelaide for microdermal/dermal anchors, and I don’t see anyone in South Australia on the Industrial Strength microdermal website. This does not, of course, mean there’s nobody doing them there, just that you need to do some research and call around to the better piercing studios and talk to them about it. Ask them if they do them, how many they’ve done, how the procedure is performed/what techniques are they using, how they learned to perform the procedure, how many they’ve removed and at what point in the healing process, what their success rate is, and for pictures of fresh and healed work.
As for tattoos, shop around - everyone has their favourite artists and I’ve seen good work come out of Adelaide. I’ve also seen some shockers, ha ha, so caveat emptor and all of that! Here’s where the new comments section will come in handy - South Australian readers, please do feel free to pitch in with your favourite artists and links to shops, to give us some help!
+1 / 1 votes
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Posted by Lori St.Leone | Permalink | 13 Comments
Saturday October 13th, 2007 @ 10:15 PM
MY friends seems to think if you fly after getting a tattoo the blood vessles will “explode”. sounds like BS to me?
As someone who has flown on average more than 50,000 miles a year for the past 4 years I can tell you I have never had any blood vessels explode. I’ve even flown thousands of miles specifically to get tattooed and then flown back the very same day!
Tell your friend it’s total “BS” and that they can also drink soda and eat Pop Rocks.
+1 / 1 votes
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Posted by Rachel | Permalink | 4 Comments
Friday October 12th, 2007 @ 6:06 AM
I wasn’t able to find this in the wiki or by searching the QOD so I apologize if this has been answered before. I normally hate the “My friend told me…” type of questions but I am really curious about this one. It has come to my attention that there are some who believe that small tattoos are a bad idea and that they don’t turn out as well as larger ones. But of course no definite reasons were given. I know that for detail work you have to have a certain size, but is there any reason not to have a very simple design done on a smaller scale?
The thing about tattoos is that you’re filling cells with the pigment, cells have a finite size. As the body ages the cell walls break down, as it breaks down the pigment in those cells spread/run. Depending on the size of the tattoo will dictate the clarity of the tattoo as your body ages, it might be visible for a couple years, or it might be visible longer.
All work has some manner of detail, unless you’re going for small blob solid colours. You want to make sure that the lines do not get too close because as I said as the skin ages and breaks down the pigment will expand from its spot and blur/blend with what’s close by.
This is why many artists will have a bare minimum size for tattoos they do, based on the detail of the piece. There are however people like Anil Gupta who are internationally known for doing postage stamp size tattoos of Salvador Dali paintings,etc. However he does these tattoos with very small needle groupings (quite often 1 liners,etc), he has a MASSIVE magnify glass. Also your skin must be of a very specific type, if not he won’t do the tattoo. Not to mention in his FAQ on his page the first statement is: 1) Does Anil do coverups, retouch or color enhancement on an existing tattoo? NO.
Letters, Birds, Butterflies, Tigers, Faces all these things require detail. Details that are being etched into a living canvas. Something that ages and decays, which is very unlike a painters canvas,etc.
Now with saying this, this doesn’t mean rush out to get a full back-piece. But the thing to consider with tattoos is to make sure it fits the frame. A small tattoo on a rather large space will simply not look right, visually to the eyes. Case in point look at the body builders who have very tiny suns, tribals,etc on their upper arm region. Their massive bulging muscles over shadow the piece so it gets lost amongst the muscle.
So like I said it doesn’t need to be a huge tattoo, nor small. The thing to always consider is: “Does this tattoo fit the frame of my body“
+1 / 1 votes
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Posted by Warren Hiller | Permalink | 7 Comments
Sunday October 7th, 2007 @ 8:10 AM
I’m looking to get a lip tattoo right away, however i was thinking it’d be kindve neat to get it in white ink. im just wondering tho, since lip tattoos fade rather easily, will it fade fast being in white ink? will white ink even show up well? aaand, would requesting white ink increase the price? Thank you sooo much
Yes, using white ink is more likely to fade, and no, its unlikely to show up well…the ink sits above the pigment in the skin and is translucent, looking cream coloured on most people’s skin, and only appearing white on people with very very pale skin. Inside the mouth it’d be unlikely to stand out much at all, and certainly wouldnt appear white. The ink itself wouldn’t make the tattoo more expensive, but it may work out more expensive as it might require more sessions to get the ink to take to any reasonable degree. Basically, unless you want a very simple and subtle design, its probably not a great idea.
- Vampy
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by AskBME | Permalink | 1 Comment
Wednesday September 26th, 2007 @ 4:01 PM
hello Shawn, just wanted to thank you for your answer and to tell you that i think you’re some king of magical element…only a few hour after i posted my question it started looking alot better. Anyway thanks alot for your ever greatly answered questions. and just because you’re so good to all of us i need another answer from you…how much time should i wait after beeing tattoed before shaving over it?
Thanks again…have a nive day!
I think I waited two weeks after my throat piece to start shaving. When nothing is raised of flakey, have at it. (posted via iPhone on a Philly bus… QOD goes mobile)
- Shawn Porter
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by AskBME | Permalink | Comments
Wednesday September 26th, 2007 @ 3:05 PM
Hello Shawn, i’ve searched alot and never found an answer for my question. I had the outline done on my chest piece two weeks and a half ago and it looks great but when i look at it closely i can see a bit of skin still flaking or something on some parts of it. is it normal to still have some of this kind of skin after this much time? i followed the aftercare closely but i still heal slowly…is it me being only slow to heal or my skin going crazy? Thank you very very much!!!
Kinda looks like peeling skin from a sunburn?
Yeah, you’re probably fine. Give us a status update if not, but I’ve had line work look a little peely in the past.
- Shawn Porter
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by AskBME | Permalink | Comments
Wednesday September 26th, 2007 @ 1:32 PM
hello Shawn, just wanted to thank you for your answer and to tell you that i think you’re some king of magical element…only a few hour after i posted my question it started looking alot better. Anyway thanks alot for your ever greatly answered questions. and just because you’re so good to all of us i need another answer from you…how much time should i wait after beeing tattoed before shaving over it?
Thanks again…have a nive day!
I think I waited two weeks after my throat piece to start shaving. When nothing is raised of flakey, have at it. (posted via iPhone on a Philly bus… QOD goes mobile)
- Shawn Porter
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by AskBME | Permalink | Comments
Wednesday September 12th, 2007 @ 5:38 PM
i’ve started getting work done on a full sleeve and in the last session, about a week ago, parts of the outline were colored in. near my elbow and outer side of my wrist i’ve developed really bad scabbing. i’m a bartender and i’m fairly sure that the scabbing is from moving my arm so much at work. is there anything i can do to prevent this for my next session besides taking a week off?
You can try plastic wrap aftercare for the first 24-48 hours. It will help prevent scabbing and drying. But not all tattoo artists suggest plastic wrap for healing tattoos, so run it past your individual artist first.
- Ryan Ouellette
0 / 0 votes
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Posted by AskBME | Permalink | Comments
