• 04
  • Jul
  • Hello,

    I have a tattoo on my ankle that is around 20 years old. It was first done by my sister with a home made needle and pen ink type set up. Then a few years later, a friend of mine with a real machine and proper ink blacked it out. Over the last year or two it has been getting swollen in a particular spot where it took alot of ink to black it out...and the ink is really black there, also the skin around the tattoo is a little red and painful deep in my ankle..so not just the surface skin. It feels like a deep sort of throbbing ache. Now from the outside it does not appear infected, crusty...or anything like that. Just very painful. Can someone please tell me what could be the problem.


  • oh dear, you should NEVER do homemade tattoos, covering a homemade one doesnt reverse or remove the infection if you got one from the unclean needle and/or ink.
    you probably have a bacterial infection, go see a doctor/dermatologist ASAP


  • i would go and see a doctor quick


  • well just 20 years old and painful so you see a doctor or put some bag obam on it or take cold shower s or put ice where ever the tattoo so it wont hurt every much


  • when a tattoo goes too deep under the skin it can cause it to scar tissue underneath and sometimes do what appears to be swelling. That could explain that and as for the pain it seems like maybe that built up scar tissue could potentially be pressing on a nerve or something else very vital. I would suggest you see a Dr. about this mostly because if its been 20 yrs its not going to get better. They can inject certain things now like cortizon that will relieve it if it is swelling or other things to break down scar tissue. Good luck


  • homemade tats are a no-no. go see a doctor, stat. especially because it hurts after 20 years.


  • It sounds like you may have injured your tattoo recently and an infection has set in, go see a doctor.


  • i have no idea why that would happen but it sure does sound like something that a doctor should look at soon. u dont want it to turn into a bigger problem than it has to be. Good Luck!







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