Help what to do with infected tattoo

[marinathehungina]

I'm assuming it's infected. Was done thurs. will go doctors but they probably can't see me for a month. Help.

See attached
Yes I know it's bad. It's a (lovely) in joke about how bad it is

Try going back to the tattooist? They might be able to advise you.

It's a stick and poke so less likely to be helpful. Please don't tear me down I stupidly started an AIBU thread too

Not in prison then?

You mean it wasn't done by a licensed tattoo artist? That was a huge mistake.

Go to minor injuries or A&E. Infections can be very dangerous.

Forget posting on AIBU, what do you expect anyone here to tell you? You need that looking at by a medical professional, it's badly infected and you need treatment. Get yourself to the emergency Doctor or A&E, you certainly can't wait a month for a regular appointment.

Get to the gp on an emergency appointment or possibly a and e. Infected tattoos are nothing to mess with.

It looks a bit angry OP, are the symptoms getting worse?

You need antibiotics. In the mean time antiseptic lotion such as germolene. Covered when it could get knocked open to the air as much as possible. If you get angry red streaks go to a&e for sepsis

Forget posting on AIBU, what do you expect anyone here to tell you? You need that looking at by a medical professional, it's badly infected and you need treatment. Get yourself to the emergency Doctor or A&E, you certainly can't wait a month for a regular appointment.

Then start saving up your pennies to see if a pro tattoo artist can fix that botch job you've got there.

Sorry for double post, thought it hadn't first time.

why all the derision?
It's just a small tattoo, op hasnt cut her own arm off fgs

If you can't get into your GP within 24 hours then you need an out of hours appointment. I agree with the previous poster who suggested germolene or similar.

You need to be treating this as an infected wound, rather than a fresh tattoo so keep it covered with a non sticky dressing (not gauze) to keep it clean.

Draw a line around the infection line with a pen so you can keep an eye on the spread of the infection.

I'm going to presume that the equipment wasn't cleaned properly, and that the 'tattooist' didn't use single use needles so you also need to arrange blood tests for Hep C and HIV.

Please, please go to A+E.
It doesn't matter where you got it or who did it, all that matters is it is horribly infected and you have absolutely no idea what with.
There are some very nasty things living on our skin, including strep and meningitis, and if either of those takes hold you could be in serious trouble. You need IV antibiotics most likely, not just an oral course. If at all possible go now, do not wait.

Minor injuries or GP at the least I think! I'm not going to tear into you, just hope that it's okay for you

Call 111, they'll tell you if you need A&E or if out of hours is ok. They can also book appointments if applicable and tell you if a particular centre is really busy.

But please call as it looks quite bad (as in infected, not the tattoo itself).

why all the derision?
It's just a small tattoo, op hasnt cut her own arm off fgs
It's a stick and poke tattoo. So basically a do it yourself one just using a regular needle and ink, sometimes tattoo ink sometimes just pen ink depending on who does it. Way more prone to infection because of the conditions they're done in and if the person doing it doesn't use new needles each time you're risking exposure to HIV and hepatitis.

Definitely a&e or out of hours with that!

Poor you, it looks really sore.

Add hep B testing to your blood-borne virus list, it is very easily transmitted and survives a lot longer on equipment than HIV.

Definitely get it looked at asap by a medical professional. You are at risk of septicaemia which can be life threatening. If gp won't give you an emergency appointment please go a&e.

Why do you have two posts about this, OP?

What Scooby said.Don't hang about either, you need to get on the anti b's sharpish as they take a while to kick in. And yes, as a pp said, draw a line around the raised red bit (looks a couple of inches outside the actual tattoo at the moment) then you can monitor if the infection is spreading.

You need to go to A n E, now. Dh is heavily involved in the tattoo industry and covered from head to toe and says you will need iv antibiotics and a proper dressing for that.

Ffs any wound risks sepsis. There is a lot of hysteria on here. Go to A+E absolutely if you are poorly or the infection is spreading rapidly.

But

If the infection is contained and you are not unwell in yourself then phone your gp surgery this am when they open at 8. (Or 8.30 some places). You said they probably can't see you for a month. But that does imply you haven't actually asked. Most gp surgeries run some system for emergencies be that phone call triage or sing extras etc. But phone up and ask to be seen! Yes it needs seeing. No you probably dint need to panic. Yes you need to talk to the gp about how it was done and what was used and what future tests you need for hepatitis hiv etc

Why two threads op?!

Herbluebird it's not hysteria. From the sounds of it it wasn't done by a professional which leads to all sorts of issues. Not to mention if it's been put in deeper than it should it has higher risks to blood poisoning. It's better to be over cautious in a situation like this as it can be life threatening.