While a person is getting a tattoo, the skin secretes a fluid that forms droplets on the surface. Now, normally the blood particles in the fluid would dry on the surface and would look like black specs. If left alone and no bothered or picked at they will attach themselves along with particles and then they dry and form what you know as a scab. Eventually though the skin will heal in spite of the obstacles created. If this process gets disturbed then you are going to have to deal with healing an infected tattoo.

Minimal damage would more or less meet with a rate of healing which is proportional to the amount of moisture that the tattoo is exposed to. A number of healing ointments can be used to promote the needed atmosphere required for the tattoo to heal and these ointments include: Bacitracin Zinc, A & D Ointment and Petroleum. Petroleum found in all these products tends to mean that air or water will not penetrate the skin surface, what this then results in is the best healing situation.

When your tattoo is completed there is no oozing and the surface of the skin is more or less dry, when a petroleum product is applied then droplets of fluid will start to appear due to the fact that the body is producing exudates. Exudates are required in order to create an atmosphere that tends to promote rapid healing of wounds. A wound that is maintained in a moist environment with exudates tend to have a lesser rate of infection than a wound which is dry.

It was formerly thought that petroleum based ointments affected a tattoo in a negative manner by causing the ink to dissolve from the skin but scientific research has proven that this fact is not true. The constant application of antibacterial medication is also not good for the healing process. You can apply ointment and plastic wrapping to your tattoo when you go to sleep or go to bathe for a number of days as this will help protect your tattoo under these circumstances.

Sometimes for various reasons a tattoo will become infected. If any of the following symptoms are present after having a tattoo it is possible that yours is infected and you are going to have to heal an infected tattoo. Increased pain, swelling, redness, heat, or tenderness around the tattoo, red streaks extending from the area, pus coming from the wound, swollen or tender lymph nodes, or fever are all indications that an infection has occurred.

Infection may start at the tattoo and usually clear or clear-yellow fluid that drains from an infected tattoo may change to creamy yellow, brown, or red or look or smell like pus. Infection may also occur deep inside the wound, with few noticeable signs at the site. Pain and swelling may develop. This is a definite sign that you have to heal the infected tattoo.

The skin over a tattoo may heal while an infection is present in the wound, causing a more serious infection, such as an abscess. If you do not heal your infected tattoo it can spread to an infection within the bones, the joints or even become sepsis, which is an infection in the whole body.

You will likely need an antibiotic to heal your infected tattoo. A doctor may also order blood tests, depending on the circumstances under which you received the tattoo. Treat an infected tattoo by keeping it dry at all times. Water is the biggest enemy of your tattoo as it heals.