What To Do With an Unwanted New Tattoo
Tattoo regret may set in sooner for some people than for others. Typically, someone may get a tattoo that is different from what they wanted or expected. It might be the wrong color, shape, or design, or may contain a mistake, such as a misspelling.
At Tattoo MD, we often get inquiries about what can be done with a brand-new tattoo that is not quite healed yet. This is a challenging problem since laser tattoo removal is not designed to be used on unhealed tattoos. What benefit, if any, lasers would provide if used right away on a tattoo is unknown.
There is a lot of advice on the internet on what can be done for a new tattoo. Some suggest to pick off the scab and pour peroxide in the wound on a frequent basis. Others recommend the application of salts or creams before the tattoo heals completely. What all these methods have in common is to keep the skin from healing completely over the ink so that as much of the ink as possible will leak out during that time.
This may be somewhat effective. A tattoo might become lighter or moth-eaten. However, there is also a risk of causing an infection. Already, with the placement of a tattoo, there is a foreign body in the wound. As long as clean technique was used in tattooing, there is a low chance of infection. If one starts to disturb the tattoo frequently and interferes in the healing process, though, there is a chance of causing an infection. An infected tattoo can be quite a severe problem and requires treatment with a prolonged course of antibiotics, at the very least. The potential for scarring may also increase with picking at the wound and the use of destructive solutions, such as peroxide.
In the end, although there may be some benefit in trying to mechanically leach the ink out of an unwanted new tattoo, there is also substantial risk. No matter how successful this is, additional tattoo removal treatments, e.g. with a laser, will almost always be required. At Tattoo MD, we recommend allowing a new tattoo to heal for at least 2 weeks prior to beginning laser treatment.
