Fifty Shades of Red: Tattoo Redness Explained

You may notice that you may get red (and sometimes swollen) for some tattoos and not others. Why is that? There are so many factors that can affect this, but it’s a natural process. First, when you get a tattoo you are poking into the dermis (second layer of skin) with a needle which causes acute inflammation from that poke. This is your body’s natural defence mechanism - skin releases signals — causes blood vessels to dilate and rush to affected area to begin healing = redness.  So a little redness is always part of tattoos. It even happens when you bump yourself or when your scratch yourself.

However when it appears more noticeably red it may be due to the more surface level considerations like the specific location, intensity of the tattoo (dark heavy lines and/or a more heavy handed tattoo artist)… 

But it can also be due to what’s happening beneath the surface of the skin like the persons immune system, stress levels, overall health and being closer to your menstrual phase. 

The redness subsides soon after the tattoo as your body goes through its natural healing process but I always find it so fascinating when you can really wrap your head around the skin being this wildly intelligent organ. 

Forever nerding out.

Blue Bird from my Flash!

Shows redness that was more red than her normal which inspired this post.