Sometimes my tattoo swells and looks like it's 3D, where the ink is. (I have had it for 4 years) Is this a bad thing?...
68Why does my tattoo raise up from time to time?
Some scarring occurs with every tattoo. Most of the time it's not really noticable. When the tattoo becomes irritated the scar will raise up for a bit. This can be caused by sun exposure or sunburn, slapping, scratching, rough clothing or even stress. Given time to calm down, the tattoo will lay flat again.
The same reaction commonly occurs with stretchmarks. If you have them, I'm sure you've noticed. Also sometimes the Artist may have used a ink containing too much of one type of Metal or mineral. Personaly I have older tattoos that do this and the artist used India ink. Hope this helps
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I have been asked this quite a bit over the years. I have yet to hear any medical reason, this is just what I have observed and heard from other artists
My back piece which is all outline work has always ben slightly raised and will be even more so after a hot shower or work out, when the blood comes to the surface. What several artists have told me that due to the thick outline, which they used a 7 or 9 point needle, it is more scarred then typical tattoo work. It also can occur when an artist goes to deep with the needle, causing underlying scarring. There isn't much to do about it.
Interesting. The blackwork tattoo on my shoulder, done primarily with a 7-point needle, has a tendancy to do that. It is very subtle, but I can feel it with my fingertips.Interestingly enough, the design looks quite a bit like the avatar taylorblue is using in the comment above (and I thought my design was unique when I first drew it!).http://hubpages.com/hub/Design_A_Tattoo
Unless you drew it about 600 years ago I don't see how you thought it was unique. Every Pommy backpacker has it.
Some people DO have allergic reactions to the pigments in the ink. I think something like 1 in every 400 people is allergic to red ink. My friend got a tattoo with red in it and although she took good care of it, it scabbed very heavily as it healed, and as the scabs came off, she lost a lot of the red color. This kept happening over and over and now, about a year later, she's left with a very faded (almost pink) tattoo that's still pretty raised and bumpy.
taylorblue says:
2 years ago
so it's okay?? I have three others...and they don't do that...just the one on my shoulder...