Tattoo aftercare tips from a dermatologist. How to take care of a tattoo after you get it done. Vaseline and vaseline lotion for tattoo aftercare.
Well hey guys in today’s video i’m gonna give you dermatologist tips for tattoo aftercare how to take care of your skin after getting a tattoo a tattoo is basically a womb so the tips i’m going to give you in today’s video are essentially those that apply to wound healing major goals of tattoo aftercare are to avoid scabbing to avoid infection and to protect
Your healing tattoo from ultraviolet radiation which can fade the tattoo now there’s a lot of variability from tattoo artists to tattoo artists in terms of what they apply to the tattoo after it has been placed but generally speaking at the time the tattoo is placed a thin layer of petrolatum a vaseline jelly is typically applied and then the then the tattoo is
Covered with a bandage or some plastic wrap that dressing is worn for several hours to absorb what’s called serum or the kind of fluid stuff that’s going to exude out of the wound as well as the ink that’s going to be extruded from the wound after those several hours you want to wash your hands very thoroughly and then remove the bandage you then want to gently
Wash the tattoo in fresh running water and so after you’ve washed the tattoo you then want to pat dry the tattoo with a clean dry wash cloth and then apply a thin layer of petrolatum okay vaseline i have a big tub here this is really inexpensive it’s only like four bucks but this process of first washing your hands and then we’re moving the bandage washing the
Tattoo padding the skin dry with a clean towel and then applying a layer of vaseline petroleum jelly this is something that you’re going to repeat twice a day and these steps are really important the aspect of washing your hands is to reduce the risk of infection the skin the tattooed skin is very vulnerable to infection and that will ruin the tattoo and put you
You know in a bad place and the process of gently washing the tattoo and water is essentially a gentle debridement here built up blood or serum that crusts on top of your skin you want to remove that that’s the purpose of the twice a day gentle washing and the vaseline is really important because vaseline helps with wound healing it provides a physical barrier
Keeps the wound clean prevents bacteria from getting in and it also facilitates wound healing through the migration of little skin cells back to where they need to go this is a key principle of wound healing so as a dermatologist i believe about petrolatum is the best ingredients you put on a healing wound it’s inexpensive it can prevent bacterial infection and
It helps with wound healing but i know that amongst tattoo artists there is some controversy some tattoo artists love using gasoline others argue that it might fade the ink i personally don’t understand how it could fade the ink but i do hear a lot of arguments against vaseline saying that it prevents oxygen from getting into the tattoo and that it actually can
Increase the risk of infection some of those arguments may to a certain extent be true but the benefits of vaseline outweigh these potential risks wounds that are kept moist and protected heal better and with less risk of scarring vaseline or petroleum jelly has been shown to be one of the best ingredients to facilitate wound healing the last thing you want is for
Your tattoo to get scabby and dry up that will create a barrier to the new skin cells coming in and healing over the tissue so vaseline is really good yes if you put vaseline on to dirty skin it can trap the bacteria on the surface of the skin that’s why it’s so important to first wash your hands and then make sure you’re washing off the tattoo with fresh clean
Water and a little bit of soap rinsing it clean patting the skin dry with a clean towel and then applying the that really will help keep wound healing going in the right direction an alternative though to vaseline that i hear a lot of tattoo artists use is a diaper rash cream and that certainly is an option diaper rash creams to protect the skin they help with
Healing a lot of them have obviously have zinc oxide in them which is anti-inflammatory and can help with healing unfortunately you have to be careful though a lot of diaper rash creams do have fragrance in them and fragrance is not a good thing to put on a loom because you can develop a reaction to the fragrance that will mess up the healing of the wound and in
This case your tattoo so i don’t recommend things like a nd ointment that have fragrance instead if you want to use a diaper rash cream i recommend aquaphor three-in-one diaper rash cream it is really good and doesn’t have any added for any fragrance in it so that’s a good choice as well i also know that a lot of tattoo artists sometimes will apply an antibiotic
Ointment namely bacitracin bacitracin frankly is not the best topical antibiotic a lot of bacteria are not even going to respond to bacitracin and one of the problems with bacitracin is that people can develop a contact sensitivity to it and the studies show that applying just plain vaseline versus applying something like bacitracin to a healing wound the rates of
Secondary infection complicating the wound are no different between the two groups so it’s better to go with vaseline because it doesn’t know that risk of contact dermatitis like bacitracin and it doesn’t expose you unnecessarily to antibiotics that are really that useful for this type of healing wound if you’re if you follow these steps keeping the wound clean
And using petrol oughtta make a vaseline you will be fine so that’s basically how the aftercare should go point number two beyond that is do not scratch a pic the tattoo it’s going to become very itchy that’s part of wound heal to develop kind of an itchy stage the last thing you want to do is scratch or pick you don’t know if you develop any scabs you don’t
Want to pick them off take advantage of the water that you’re flushing all over the tattoo to kind of gently again to breed that but don’t pick or scratch at the tattoo your finger nails harbor a lot of bacteria that you’re then going to introduce into the tattoo and which is a healing wound and put yourself at risk for an infection plus the mechanical action of
Scratching creates a lot of inflammation in the skin that will delay and impair a wound healing and give you a bad outcome so do your very best to sit on your hands and not scratch our pic so my tip for you when you’re feeling itchy and you want to scratch the tattoo is to just take a basic moisturizer which will help your tattoo anyway in this case you know on how
Here at vaseline and vance prepare this video is not sponsored by vaseline i just happen to have this this is a good lotion to use or you know i’ll list some down below this an alternative for moisturizers keep this in the refrigerator keep the moisturizer in the refrigerator as soon as you have the sensation to pick or scratch apply the chilled moisturizer to the
Tattoo just rub it in a gentle circular fashion that will start to distract those itching nerves and call me itch down without you without use physically you know scratching and agitating the healing wound tip number three for having a good outcome of healing is to avoid wearing really tight clothing around the around the tattoo the mechanical action of the clothing
Rubbing back and forth can cause a lot of irritation it can trap sweat and bacteria there and just cause a lot of problems so try and wear loose-fitting clothing tip number four you don’t want to go swimming with a tattoo because pools lakes oceans streams what-have-you they all have bacteria and them even even pools which are treated with chlorine that can get into
The wound and complicate things i personally would just avoid swimming at least for the first two weeks after getting a tattoo just to be safe yes there are some water proof bandages that you can use should be fine but i personally just wouldn’t risk it another reason though not to go swimming is that you don’t want to expose the tattoo to ultraviolet radiation uv
Radiation from the sun sunlight will fade the ink delay wound healing and can complicate things the best way to keep your tattoo looking good is to make sure that you protect it from the sun long-term even after this period of four to six weeks we still want to protect it from the sun you want to protect it from the sun by wearing sun protective clothing not staying
Outside too long during peak exposure hours if your tattoo is in a sun exposed area that you don’t want to necessarily cover up with clothing although i encourage you to do that i recommend wearing a broad-spectrum spf at least thirty and i would go with 50 or higher sunscreen applied really you know make sure you get get a good layer there to avoid fading i mean
Whatever areas exposed to the sun you should be protecting with with sunscreen but if you want your tattoo you to stay looking guy that should be another motivation to put on sunscreen and to not stay out too long i mean if you go without saying for me never get in his hanning bed the worst thing that you could do it increases your risk of skin cancer but when it
Comes to your tattoo it’ll ruin your tattoo stay out of the sun stay out of the tanning bed stay away from any kind of uv lamps and protect the tattoo when you’re outdoors with some protective clothing and a broad-spectrum sunscreen and don’t stay out too too long my final tip is this if a problem arises within the tattoo see a board-certified dermatologist there
Are a lot of things that can go wrong with chachi’s in the early stages during the wound healing process and much later on life after the fact you can develop obviously in the early stages skin infections you can develop allergy to the ink and have a bad rash as a result of that yeah i’m not sure that people necessarily appreciate the fact that dermatologists not
Only treat tattoos as far as laser removal of a tattoo and somebody decides they don’t anymore but we also treat the complications of tattoos and there are there quite a few that can can arise so if you develop issues especially pain discomfort horrible looking rash or something so you see a board-certified dermatologist that would be your best bad and you want
To treat those things early and correctly rather than delaying them i hope these tips were helpful to you guys i know i don’t have any tattoos myself but you know i do recognize that i have a lot of cultural significance and meaning they’re very important to people so i hope these tips are helpful to any of you guys out there who are considering getting a tattoo
If you like this video give it a thumbs up share it with your friends and as always don’t forget sunscreen and subscribe i’ll talk to you guys tomorrow bye you
Transcribed from video
Tattoo aftercare tips from a dermatologist| Dr Dray By Dr Dray
