Healing question

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happysmileylady
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun Aug 20, 2006 5:26 pm

Tue Oct 10, 2006 7:15 am

Got my second tat on Saturday night. It's only about 5 or 6 inches tall, but it is really color intensive and took about three hours to do because of all of the blending and such. As a result, it really irritated the skin, which was still pretty red on Sunday, though not nearly as bad as Saturday night.

I am following the care instructions, putting lotion on every couple of hours, washing gently with a mild soap etc. Sunday night, before I went to bed I washed and put a small amount of lotion on again. Monday moring when I woke up, a lot of excess ink had apparently come to the surface and my nightshirt was stuck to it. I gently pulled it off and it didnt appear to have pulled at the skin. I washed it and put lotion on again, and periodically throughout Monday did the same. However by Monday evening it was starting to feel tight, which I know is a sign that it's scabbing. But, when I wash or lotion it, it doesn't feel like it's scabbing. Or at least, not most of it. There are a couple of small parts that feel like they might be starting to scab over, mostly around the edges, but most of it feels like it's healing just fine.

My artist said that if it starts to scab, stop lotion immediately so I don't knock off the scab. But, I don't know if it's really scabbing or not...it's hard to tell because it's on my back. And if only parts of it have scabbed, should I continue the lotion with the rest? And what about the tight feeling...I am afriad that if I move my arm to much (it's on my back right shoulderblade) it's going to pull too much and possibly crack it. At least that is what it feels like when I move, but not when I rub my hand on it, if that makes sense.
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Tattude
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Tue Oct 10, 2006 8:26 am

It's fine... HARD scabs are what we're talking about. YOU'LL know if it's a hard scab. Wash it, apply SMALL amounts of lotion until it peels and you'll be fine...
happysmileylady
Posts: 31
Joined: Sun Aug 20, 2006 5:26 pm

Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:54 pm

Ok, so it's definetly scabbed over, I could totally tell that this morning. So I didn't put any lotion today. This evening when I changed I looked in the mirror and the edges are already peeling. However, it looks like it split in the middle and is now bleeding. Not a lot, just a little bit.

How can I keep this from scarring? Should I just wash it and let the split skin scab over? Try to bandage it so that a new scab doesn't form where it split? Something else?
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