Imagine just having a tattoo and suddenly there is a new pimple appearing on the skin area. Have you ever had this pimple on your old tattoo, or pimple on new tattoo? How did you handle the pimple? Previously we have discussed about pimple on back, pimples on temples – and now we will discuss pimple on tattoo.
Pimple on tattoo
Pimples are mostly due to clogged pores or hair follicles that become infected. And pimples do not discriminate. They can appear on clear skin, they can appear on tattooed skin. You would want to treat pimple on tattoo with more care, simply because any wrong move might damage the tattoo.
New tattoo on skin means the skin has fresh wound. There is open wound on the skin that can increase the likelihood of infection. Having said that, it does not mean that pimple can only appear on new tattoo. Old tattoo can have pimple too as long as there is clogging on the pores which get infected by bacteria.
What you should/shouldn't do on a pimple on tattoo?
You should not pop or squeeze pimple on tattoo, whether it is new or old tattoo. Generally, tattoo ink resides on a deeper layer of skin compared to the one where pimple often appears. If you put topical cream or ointment and let the pimple dry by itself, the tattoo will not be affected. However, if you squeeze your pimple, the infection might actually spread to a deeper layer of the skin. If the deeper layer of the skin where the tattoo ink resides gets infected or inflamed, this might move around the tattoo ink. Hence, the tattoo pigment might get affected by this infection/inflammation. Similarly, cystic acne that stems from deeper layer of the skin has higher risk of changing the tattoo.
If this happens on a new tattoo, the risk of infection spreading to surrounding area and deeper layer of the skin when not handled properly is even higher. Moreover, fresher tattoo may mean that the ink has not set in place completely. Therefore you need to treat pimple on new or fresher tattoo with even greater care.
You should not pick on the pimple wound either, as doing so might fade some of the tattoo ink.
How to care for your skin with tattoo?
Having pimple is not comfortable, and if you have tattoo, you would not want to have pimple on tattoo either for aesthetic purposes. To prevent issue with your tattoo due to pimple, make sure you maintain good body hygiene and give extra care on the area with tattoo. Wash the area and also exfoliate it so that you can avoid clogging of the skin pores and hair follicles. If you want to check out best exfoliator for acne, read up on a dedicated post on this topic!