A week after I got my tattoo I thought I had an infection. I was in the ER twice and then admitted to the hospital for 5 days until the geniuses concluded it was an allergic reaction and not an infection. Fucking sucked regardless of what it was.

Here it is at its worst.

you have to be kidding me.... is that real? don't you already have tattoos?

yeah I do but this tat has probably 20x more ink than all my others put together. And from what I've gathered through some research an allergy to ink might not show up until your 3rd or 4th tattoo. This was my 4th and I guess I'm just that lucky. Looks so much better now that they're popped and healing but it is still a very sad case.

That is supremely gross. You should juice that thing over someone's toast.

so the tattoos got ruined?

nope. for some reason (I'm thinking gravity since I'm on my feet all the time) all the allergen dropped to the bottom half of my leg where it pooled and blistered. The only part affected was the bottom as it shows in the pic. Luckily so far the tat looks about normal in that area. We'll see once the whole situation is done.

Holy fuck!!! Glad to hear it should be all right. A Nick Flanagan tattoo would be a terrible thing to waste.

Dude. That is some vile shit right there. Good to know that sikk ink didn't get ruined...or your leg for that matter.

wow, not a lot of things can make me flinch first thing in the morning. That did. Sorry to hear about this man... you should think about the juicing it over toast thing though. That thing is a gold mine.

I'm allergic to black ink, too, though it's NEVER been like that. Glad it's getting better for you, terrified that it once looked like THAT.

the big long blister popped on its own in the hospital. The lower one got huge. On Saturday the Dermatologist came to see me, ripped the wrappings off my leg without care, saw it and declared it not infected. He then took a random pair of scissors and stabbed it. Mind you I didn't know he was doing this and had no protective garment on the bed to soak up all the goodness. It was like hot piss pumping out of my leg onto the hospital bed. He then just left me to drain after he man raped my leg. Now the bubbled area look like shriveled old man balls. But at least I'm getting better. I see the Derm Doc tomorrow and I am going to ask if there are any tests to determine exactly what I am allergic to in the tattoo process. I really didn't want this to be my last tattoo.

Anyway, here is the finished piece, pre-leg aids, done by Nick Flanagan.

Hmmm. Do all your other tattoos suck? You could be allergic to super sweet tattoos like this one.

Seriously. Your body was probably angry that you hadn't gone to Nick for all your other tattoos, haha.

those are sick tats anyway

GAH. That's br00tal. Man, that would put me off ink for a few.

In other news, you're not the "Dug" I had assumed you were - that Dug has tattoos on his head and thumbs and stuff. "The More You Know."

Nice work, BTW.

thats wierd...
first off, if you have a allergy to a specific pigment or brand of pigments it will show up on your first tattoo. I found out my body doesn't take red too well since I've had to have my shin redone 2 times and it still isn't fully touched up.

second... find out what brand of pigments the artist was using. You could be allergic to something that is in that specific brand of pigment. I've heard from my bosses/artists that some brands are of better quality and chemical make-up.

third... did he use any sort of wash that had lidocaine in it while he was tattooing you. I have a allergy to it and it was used during a session on my leg and a part of it got all irritated and blistered up, couold possibly be a reaction to that if it was used.


It seems to me if this was an allergic reaction your whole tattoo would have been all bubbly and gross, not just the underneath. What kind of aftercare did you do on the tattoo after it was finished (prior to the reaction)?

I've heard that it takes time to get any reaction to ink or dye. Like i said above, it could take up to your 4th tattoo before you get any symptoms. The tattoo on my forearm is 8 yrs old and it did get very red and swollen but no blisters. after a week it was fine. that one was done in RI. My new one was in NH.

well it's not an infection. 5 days in the hospital figured that out. It is an allergic reaction but to what part of the tattoo process I don't know yet. the reason I think all the damage is underneath is due to gravity and all the shit just pooling there since I'm on my feet all day at work. I am going to get to the bottom of this though. The lidocaine theory is intriguing. I've even heard that people get reactions similar to this from Vaseline too. so who knows.

As far as aftercare, they told me to stick with daily cleaning in the shower and lotion with Vitamin E and coco butter and that my last reaction could've been from the ointment I used (which they said was basically unnecessary if I stuck to the above directions).

that blistered up leg would be a cool album cover.

dead infection

RAAADDDD,
you got a scary stories to tell in the dark tat

i was actually gonna get the chicks face with no eyeballs in the same spot

cool i was wondering.

could it be latex?

holy shit!! that tattoo is amazing.. and that infection was pretty epic.. sorry you endured that

damn damn damn.....my body doesnt take that well to red ink, but not like that.

Yeah. I love it. It's actually 3 different pieces from the book combined. Ever since I was a kid I have never forgotten that church.

when i got mine outlined it started getting all aerated and shit it was gross

it could have also been the type of ink that was used...

I had some light blue not take well. when red heals on me it gets all extra super dry and bubbley/crackley like kinda hard and crustyish in the red areas. Nothing like that. And heavy black lines often raise and become itchy/irratated for no apparent reason randomly, especialy after strenuous activity. This happens on all of my tatts from 9 years old to my most recent of almost 2 years ago.

Thats nasty. Good luck with it. + for ink type/company/mixer.

Random story this reminds me to tell just in case....One time at a tattoo studio late at nite I was the last person there and I noticed one of the guys mixing some powdered pigment with listerine. I asked about it and was told that is is normal to make tattoo ink in this fashion and have since read about it. All the artists at said shop use there own ink. My artist uses the already mixed stuff. Just think of what else goes into the ink. http://wiki.bmezine.com/index.php/Tattoo_ink

Dug's not fooling me. I know he has a college degree in makeup/special effects.

dug went to clown college?

HAHAH! You're on to me. I couldn't produce something that gnarly looking though.

Just saw the Derm Doc. If the skin doesn't heal in a few weeks it might be an allergic reaction to something used in the tattoo process. If it heals in a normal amount of time I might just be allergic to getting tattoos he said. The trauma is too much for my body to handle. Oh boy.

Now I'm on Prednisone AND anitbiotics . . . ftw!

i hope the blisters didn't ruin the tattoo. that would suck. it looks like they are all below the tattoo anyway, so they probably didn't harm it. sucks that you're going through this, but at least you have an awesome tattoo to show for it.

are you allerigic to shellfish?

some oils shops use are made from fishoil

from what I've read, the only thing that isn't hypoallergenic in tattoos is red ink, but aftercare products, latex gloves, and nickel can cause allergic reactions.

I myself am very allergic to nickel, and can't get anything major for fear of what damage a large or complex tattoo will do to my skin.

that guys work looks good by the way, but I might avoid going to him in the future. maybe stick to a previous artist that didn't use the meterials that caused this.


I bet you could have a scratch test to tell what you're allergic to specifically.

I'm cool with shellfish. I have a feeling I'll never solve this mystery. The Derm Doc isn't being too helpful. Healing nicely though and the tattoo seems undamaged. No more blisters and my leg doesn't quite look like Canadian Bacon anymore where the blisters once were.