Expert: Sasha Merritt - Professional Tattoo and Cosmetic Artist - 4/28/2009

Question
Hello there! My question is:

I got a tattoo on my wrist 3 weeks ago. It is just a silhouette of a fish about and inch long. Fast forward three weeks; after much research I have discovered the my blurry lines are actually a "blow-out".  Since its such a simple tattoo, i can live with the lines. NOW, my concern is the area around it. Since I got that tatt, the whole diameter around the tattoo (it spreads about 1/4 inch outwards) has like a bluish-halo around it. NONE OF THE PICTURES OF BLOWOUTS THAT I HAVE SEEN SHOW THIS BRUISE-LIKE HALO AS PART OF A BLOWOUT. One artist told me it was indeed a blowout and that its permanent. However another artist told me it was going to go away and just drink plenty of water.......I would love to believe the latter.

Can you give me any information that supports either of these claims, particularly referring to the halo rather than the blurry lines?

I really want to love my tattoo but i need to know if i should wait it out or just get it fixed.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU :)

Answer
Amanda-

I have had the halo-like effect happen both on tattoos I've done and others have done on me, tattoos that didn't have blow out.  Tattoo healing is not entirely understood (who would let researchers take samples of their healing tattoo?) so it isn't always possible to say for sure what happened here.

One of the things we do know is that when the ink is healing, the body absorbs and flushes out the medium (the distilled water, witch hazel, etc that the ink particles sit in).  This leaves only the particles of ink.  Blow out is when it goes too deep and the ink particles don't stay in a nice line.  The halo could be part of the blow out, or it could just be that the tiniest ink bits have floated around the tattoo.

I'd not heard of it going away with drinking lots of water, but definitely try it and see if it does the trick.  Generally, it is something that can only be fixed with thicker lines.

Let it heal for a week or two more than talk to your artist for advice on where to go next with it.

Good Luck,
Sasha Merritt
www.dragonflyink.com