Most sources indicate that tattoos generally take about 2 weeks to heal. However, it may take up to 4 weeks for the skin to fully recover. Some complications may prolong the healing process.
From 1 to 6 months. After a month, any itching and redness should have completely gone. In fact, your new tattoo may look fully healed! However, the skin under your tattoo can continue to repair itself for up to six months until it's considered healed.
Your tattoo will naturally fade over time. For some people, it can take only a couple of years for them to start to notice that the ink doesn't look as strong anymore. For others, tattoo fading won't be noticeable for decades.
Over time, cells from your immune system – called macrophages - gradually absorb the tattoo ink and disperse it, which can lead to some tattoo fading. On top of this, factors such as sunlight, friction and improper care of your tattoos can all accelerate the process of aging your skin and/or fading your tattoos.
Tattoos technically start healing right away but it takes about four months for your tattoo to fully heal. The outer layers of your skin will heal in about two to four weeks, while the deeper layers where the ink sits will take about 4 months to heal.
A tattoo in a hard to heal area can be just that, hard to heal. These areas include the wrist at the bend, the elbow and even areas on the foot. Any skin that is exposed to any friction from clothing or a shoe will prove more difficult to heal.
Older tattoos may be raised due to scar tissue
Thicker lines, and more pressure applied during tattooing, can cause some scarring. It's nothing to be concerned about, but it can sometimes raise up, and this is generally caused by changes in body temperature or weather conditions, as well as general health.
“Your tattoo will get a bit lighter or slightly thicker depending on how your body heals it,” Kim says. “Go with your artist's suggestion regarding placement, size, and detail. They're the expert and are there to make your tattoo experience as fun, informative, and seamless as possible.
A patchy tattoo could be the result of bad technique; if the artist hasn't made sure the ink is deep enough to stay put. It could also be due to them not 'packing' the ink enough; certain ink colours, or areas of concentrated black, often need to be packed in quite a lot in order to create a solid area of colour.
Unfortunately, in most cases the intensely saturated colour you see when you first get a tattoo, won't actually be the finished result. The ink will usually end up looking a tiny bit darker and less vibrant once healed. Of course, a lot of this will be down to the quality of ink used, and the technique of the artist.
Is that normal? A tattoo is VERY bright when it is first completed but during the healing process, it starts to look discolored and dull. Don't worry, when the tattoo is finished healing, the color will come back.
Keep in mind: Of the people we talked to (the majority being teenagers to twentysomethings), a whopping 78 percent regret at least one of their tattoos. And 19 percent of participants with two tattoos regret both. Planning ahead is the best way you can make sure you don't suffer from tattoo regret.
How Do Tattoos Age Over Time? Tattoos will inevitably fade over time. Immediately after getting your ink done, your tattoo will begin to fade as it heals and will not look as vibrant as when your artist first deposited the ink into your skin.
You skin needs air to heal, too much use of petroleum jelly / or any aftercare product can suffocate skin and may lead to infection. Tattooed skin is like any open wound (like scratch wound), too much dust around, or too much water can let bacteria to enter the wound and multiply fast.
Rash or bumps. Flaking. Scaly appearance. Purple or red nodules around the tattoo.
When a tattooer doesn't go deep enough with their needles, the tattoo won't stick and will be more prone to rapid fading. Blowouts occur when a tattooer inks too deep and they're the result of tattoo ink spilling throughout the layers of skin.
A tattoo that is poorly maintained can begin to experience some very slight fading after the first year. A tattoo that receives the appropriate care may not experience noticeable fading for many years – even a decade! The standard falls somewhere in the middle of that.
Sometimes, tattoos look messy and blurry while they are healing. You might see some ink leakage and some blurry lines while your skin is repairing itself. However, if your skin is healed and the lines of the tattoo are imprecise and smudged looking then you have a tattoo blowout. Give your tattoo a few weeks to heal.
A tattoo can become raised for a number of reasons. The most common factors that can cause tattoo raising are allergies, tissue damage, certain weather conditions, poor healing and rough tattoo artist work.
Over-moisturising can lead to inflamed tattoos and potentially infection. Excess moisture can clog your skin's pores which prevents it from breathing, something that's important for your skin to heal. This can lead to breakouts on the skin that can damage the tattoo.
Because tattoos breach the protective layer of the skin, skin irritation or a full-blown condition can develop months, years, even decades after the initial tattooing process.
Allergic reactions to red tattoo pigments happen most often. If you're having an allergic reaction to your tattoo, you might get a rash that's red, bumpy, or itchy. These symptoms can crop up in the days after you first get your tattoo or can appear months or years later.