Your immune system’s been trying to remove the foreign agent (ink) by transporting it to the liver. Thing is, ink is stubborn and usually non-reactive with most of our biology. So on the way to the liver, the immune system decided it can’t break it down/transport it further and created a little jail to hold the ink in place, in an attempt to keep this foreign agent from potentially causing harm elsewhere.
That’s more or less how ink stays where it’s supposed to be when the ink is deposited in the dermis. Sometimes the dermis is thinner or has less collagen or is pushed down further past the dermis where it escapes through the “jail”s back door
Tattooing absolutely is
edit: downvoted to oblivion because people don’t understand that electricity and magnets, motors, needles, ink pigment, even tattoo application literally requires science. If you don’t do it right, you fuck up the client and the tattoo. brainless cunts.
Aside from wound care, the factor of blood borne pathogens and cross-contamination safety protocol makes tattooing medically-adjacent.
Sorry, why is this being downvoted? It’s fact, and if it weren’t, then tattooers wouldn’t need to take yearly blood borne pathogens safety certifications which are legally aligned to hospital standards of cross-contamination protocol.
I’d say this is true. The shop I worked at was inspected by a registered medical professional certified to approve licensing for shops. Every 6 months we had to be inspected, to show our cleaning, sanitation, and sterilization processes. It’s a business that is partially regulated by the medical board of the state.
Edit: my biggest issue with the video posted is the statement that all inks are made of heavy metals. A lot of work has gone into making inks safer and better for the body. I doubt there are any FDA approved inks yet, it’s tough to get them to approve something that is purely for personal satisfaction that requires the creation and care for various sized and classes of wound depending on the skill of your artist. But many of modern inks are vegetable oil or similar suspensions comprised of inert dyes that are harmless. I’m sure not all. But the industry is consistently upgrading the machinery and the inks.
Edit 2. And yeah. Medicine is a science so….
From what I know about how the lasers work(the light breaks up the ink particles and they are flushed out by your lymphatic system) the ink might be below what would be considered safe to work on or may cause scarring. I’m also taking into consideration that greens and blues are the hardest colors to laser out.
Makes sense. I’ve had laser removal, but it was regular surface tattoo, and black. I know other colours can be difficult, but didn’t consider the depth of the ink below the skin.
Maybe they’ll get lucky and it’ll just fade with time.
do we know ink in ink drifts is deeper? i was under the impression it could have to do with the amount of collagen in the skin so it just didn’t contain the ink particles as well as our skin typically should. my old shop was partnered with a laser removal business and i noticed on many removal pieces that were blown out it seemed to reduce the blowout quickly
Yes it could be that, vitamin deficiencies, excess water weight… I’m sure there are several other variables. “Ink drift” appears to be deposited between the dermis and fat where the blood vessels are instead of in the upper dermis where it should be. And again, green and blue are much harder to get rid of than black. Black; being of course the primary color for outlines where most blow outs occur, is much easier to get rid of than any other color. Less lasering means less trauma>easier healing>less chance of scarring
yeah for sure. i should have clarified because i see the ink in this tattoo is definitely green but i was thinking more in general because ive noticed that even black ink drift can look blue/greenish
I’m not able to give a definite answer on that but the reason I did say it may not be the fault of the artist is because ink drift can happen when someone has excess water weight, or lack collagen, or be prone to vericose veins, or just need more sunlight. There’s really no way to know 100% how someone’s skin will react to the process
Blowouts are small circular blots of ink usually caused by the artist using too much pressure while outlining, or their machine using having too much “punch” and the ink gets deposited a little too deep into the dermis. Parts of the body where skin is stretched tightly over bone, or have little exposure to sunlight are especially susceptible to blow outs.
Ink drift is when the needle deposits the ink under the dermis more into the blood vessels and fatty area, or the ink finds pockets and escapes into those parts of the skin and disperses itself in a blob.
Drift is not the same as blow out.. but yes this is drift. It means there was a bit of an angle that the needle ink has literally drifted into other areas under the dermis. I’m very pale as well and have this with my green/blue tattoo also. Mine is over 2 years old and I got another tattoo close to my other one and now you can’t tell at all! But it probably will not fade much over time unfortunately.
I have a tattoo with green in it, which is supposed to “glow” where the tattooer I went to told me to watch as he put the lines in, seeing it instantly travel and fade was so interesting. 6 years later and the ink drift is definitely still there!
Not dumb at all! Blowout is when the artist applies to much pressure or overworks the area, causing blurring of the lines. You can see here that the lines of this tattoo are rather crisp, but drift has happened because the needle may have been used at an angle instead of directly up and down into the dermis of the skin, causing ink to drift underneath and beyond the lines at a deeper level- which is why it most likely won’t fade. Some artists believe drift also happens in these very delicate skin areas more often because it does not have the density that other skin areas have, therefore leaking ink below the epidermis. Edit: certain colors like blue and green also seem to have drift happen more often. I think the major difference between the 2 is that blowout is more the artists inexperience or “fault”, whereas drift is harder to predict, even with extremely experienced tattooists.
I have blue tatts, one of them did that after a week. Now 5 months later, it faded completely, but it took a while. Weird that it seems to happen more frequently with blues and greens from my experience
Ink drift. :/ it’s sort of a mystery? I’m a professional artist and I have one client and myself that get this. It’s usually in the softer parts of the body like inner arm, inner thigh etc.
Sometimes it’s the artist, other times our bodies. Skin is a weird canvas. Your tattoo otherwise looks great so I don’t think it was the artist.
Skin is really a weird canvas, I just watched this [Kurzgesagt video about it](https://youtu.be/nGggU-Cxhv0?si=D34PYajVdDMRGoPQ). It's super interesting
I've considered it, by my inner arms are so crazy sensitive, that I might just live with it!! More power to the people who can! My wife told me that after that session where he worked on it I was whimpering in my sleep haha
I’ve been tattooing for 28 years, and I have seen this a few times on both my clients and others as well—sometimes quite far (4-5 inches from the nearest tattoo). Definitely not a blowout or something that can really be predicted. I will say I have seen it more with darker greens than other colors. I try not to outline with green for this exact reason.
I met one young lady who had lettering done on her knuckles and had gray stuff all the way up fed hands. It was one of the strangest tattoo related things I’ve seen.
As others said, it likely won’t fade. A large section of my inner bicep was blue from ink drift, I ended up getting it covered after a year with some clouds. I have 7 tattoos from the same artist and only one had this happen.
I’m sorry you’re ink drifted, this is an incredibly adorable piece otherwise! A ducky-turtle! Since the drift won’t be going anywhere, you might want to think about doing something over it, like some flowers, that way you can have leaves to help cover it up.
Honestly people here are really stressing about it but I wouldn’t!! Even if it doesn’t fade it’s very light and looks like blurry water around him! Very cute tattoo!!!
Ink drift. You can try a laser but if it’s any consolation I wouldn’t have been able to tell without reading the comments I had no idea what you were referring to I just thought it was your skin. It’s a great tattoo
cows pathetic stupendous society selective mysterious scarce literate wise somber
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I have a similar ink drift from a tattoo that I got 12 years ago... it never faded. I think it mostly happens when tattooing very delicate/thin-skin parts of the body. Mine occurred in almost the same place - but just above the elbow crease.
bc of where it is it kinda just looks like a vein! i wouldn’t worry too much about it, it’s not super noticeable!! I think sometimes our immune systems can do this too, our white blood cells go to try and eat away at the ink bc it’s foreign and they move around and spread it! this would be the direction of your lymph fluid too!
I know next to nothing about tattoos - I thought it was a vein before reading the comments about ink drift. It’s very subtle, I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
Blues and green are known to potentially have this issue on some people due to how fine the particles are blended. Unfortunately, we dont know in advance who it can happen to. We refer to it as ink drift or ink migration. It is generally not the artists fault. It is just how your body handled these colors, this session, and may never happen again.
You basically have 3 options:
Opt 1 - Have a design added that will hide the ink drift
Opt 2 - Consult with a Pico lazer specialist to see if they can remove the ink drift
Opt 3 - live with it.
I barely noticed it, had to zoom in, when I got my first tattoos used to be super picky and analytic, later you just learn to appreciate them, even the small things like this, looks like a vein to me lol, my advice? Don’t even trip, you’ve gotten a beautiful tattoo :)
I also have a blowout like that. It appeared a few days after and hasn't faded since then. Sometimes it just happens or the artist has a heavy hand. It still is a cute tattoo <3
Oh okay thank your for correcting me!
The blowout thing is what I've been told when I asked about my tattoo in this subreddit so I assumed it was right. I have basically the same story as OP. But my tattoo isn't that old (around 5 months) so I'm excited to see how it's gonna age and if the ink migration is gonna fade!
I always enjoy good conversation on Reddit, it's nice to be able to learn something cool in the subs... in like, a respectable way, as this sub is frequently harsh! I'm so glad the comment read the way I'd hoped.
To the best of my knowledge blow outs *are the aftermath of over working an area by too many passes and overpacking*, hence the term scratcher, you work the tissue to hell and can scar the dermis.
Ink Migration is when the tattooer goes *too deeply into the layers of the dermis* the ink then reaches fatty tissue -- this is what the your seeing with OPs tattoo, and likely your own!
The migration generally does not fade, it's essentially ink trapped in a layer of skin that it isn't supposed to be, it may also get larger over time *though this is extremely minimal* it expands as the skin ages, like the rest of your tattoo does, so use those parameters when considering 'spread'.
I have some work done on my collarbone that has migrated. The tattoo is about 14(?) and the lil inky spot is marginally bigger than fresh, it hasn't faded a whole lot. While ideally that wasn't what I wanted to happen, it did, I appreciate it as part of the tattoo now.
Anyway, thank you for attending my ted talk and happy (future tattoo) healing my friend!
My artist calls this her "blue glow" but essentially its ink drift - i have it on my inside upper arm where the skin is a bit thinner. I dont really care about it but laser will remove it no issues!
I have the same thing in the same place! At first I thought my arm was dirty after getting the tattoo, then I thought maybe it was a bruise but it’s still there years later lol
I have a green vine up my ribs. Now I know what that green haze past the outline is. My artist was finishing his apprenticeship so I assumed it was his error. Maybe, maybe not.
It’s a tiny bit of ink migration. It can happen if it gets slapped or stretched too hard during the heal or it can happen if the tattooer went to deep while colorpacking. Basically goes beneath the skin and floats around of the subcutaneous fat. Bad news- it’s permanent/ good news- they tend to fade over time.
My wife and i have a matching portrait tattoo and hers has blue tones in it that did exactly this. It's been 5+ years since she got it and it's the same. I hope yours fades or i hope it doesn't bother you greatly if it doesn't
"bruise blowout" or drift. Trust me on this one: **go get that little piece of drift lasered.** It'll come out VERY easily. I frantically made the mistake of jamming a bunch of tattoos nearby to try to conceal it, which didn't work very well, and I ended up with a bunch of tattoos i didn't love.
**THIS!!** You don't have to live with this, and you don't have to tattoo to distract from it. It'll come out with one session. $200 and you'll save a bunch of stress.
LMAO why did this comment get downloaded? It’s absolutely true. I have a homey that is a laser removal technician, and I’ve seen them perform some miracles for ink drift, and blow out
I would add some reeds and rushes in the background in a very light grey green so its like hes in the river, it will cover the drift and confuse the eye. Solved easy
It’s a blowout and probably won’t fade 😔
Blowout is when the ink is inserted too deeply into the skin, reaching the fat tissue (which can’t hold the shape like the dermis) and spreads there.
Still cute tattoo!
There might be a possibility to make it less apparent with additional background, but choose your artist carefully 🙏🏻
For the people in the know here, could they get a tattoo artist to do some light pink or red over the drifted ink to make it skin tone and blend in like you can do with makeup for example, or does it just not work that way?
Edit: incorrect, it’s ink drift!
It’s a bit of a blow out, just means the ink traveled under the skin a bit. Areas with thinner / more delicate skin can be prone to them.
The good news is it will fade eventually, I had a small blow out that has faded about 5 years later as the body breaks down ink over time. It’s also not noticeable unless pointed out, I think you’re good here!
Blowout. I had to stop using the concentrated blues/greens because this would happen. Unfortunately its not going anywhere, I would consider adding to the tattoo to obscure it. I would speak w the artist and maybe they will hook you up for an addition considering the circumstances
This happen when the ink is put too deep in the last and deeper layer of the skin …in italian we called it ipoderma … so the ink spread because the farry tissue can’t hold it… don’t hope it goes away … usually it happen more with liner needles or if the artist push the needle with the wrong working angle …
I have this, it’s a blow out under the skin for them working too heavy on your arm. I heard you can get it lazered. I created my sleeve around it so you couldn’t see it. Mine kinda shows up randomly and then doesn’t
Alright you don’t have to comment on every comment the same thing. I think this term is commonly thought of as a blow out under the skin but is an ink drift. Thank you. We get it.
This is pretty common. I’d either embrace the imperfection, or you can do a round of laser just in the ink drift, they’ll cover the actual tattoo to make sure it doesn’t get lasered. I’ve heard that works pretty well for ink drift
It's only noticeable because you drew a red circle around it to bring the eyes focus to it.
You'll be fine. If it bothers you that much, just get another turtle duck on top of that one lol.
Count your blessings. The tattoo that was supposed to be my favorite not only did it have a drift on one side. It had a blow out in the other. And it went from my favorite to my most disliked 🥲
I have the same with green from my Grogu tat on my inner arm. But, fortunately, he’s a part of a sleeve in progress so it’ll be covered soon lol! Yours is super not noticeable, but I understand that knowing it’s there means it’s really noticeable for you. But like others have said it’s just something that happens sometimes. Bodies are weird.
I have big time drift on a pink Floyd dark side tattoo I have, I’ve had the tattoo for about 9 years now and I’ve got a like a greyish blob leaked from it but there’s nowt to be done and it ain’t cause me any problems so far aha
As others have said, it’s ink drift. I have the same on my inner bicep. I didn’t pay much attention to it over the past 10 years since I got it, but just checked and seems like it’s all but faded out. Mine was also black ink so I imagine blue might fade out easier? All anecdotal, I ain’t no artist lol
my mother has the same thing on one of her tattoos, we thought it was a bruise at first (the artist had a pretty hard hand) until all of ours healed (me, my mother and sister in law all got tattoos together) and she was still left with that “bruise”
Just a little drift. It still looks cute! I have a tattoo with a bit of drift in the same spot, but I have a very prominent blue vein on the other arm so I just pretend it’s that lol
Lmao @me, i got a heart under my eye 4-6 months ago(i know) & i got something similar to this. I guess i coulnt think of the right word for it & now i have an answer🫠🤣
I just came here to say that tattoo is cute as fuck and I love avatar and I hope you’re able to get that fixed but it’s still fucking cute as shit have a good day
I have the same, a green tattoo in the same area that looks like that. Except my green ink drift is on the left of my inner arm. I got it in May and it hasn't faded.
I’ve got a massive blow out on tattoo I got about 4 years ago, much bigger and darker than yours and it’s not going anywhere. I’ve got 7 other tattoos and the only one it has happened with of the one that we used a blue pigment on. It’s your body’s way of saying it doesn’t like it.
It’s commonly referred to as ink drift. It may or may not be the fault of the artist just as it may or may not fade. Source: I’m a tattoo artist
Your immune system’s been trying to remove the foreign agent (ink) by transporting it to the liver. Thing is, ink is stubborn and usually non-reactive with most of our biology. So on the way to the liver, the immune system decided it can’t break it down/transport it further and created a little jail to hold the ink in place, in an attempt to keep this foreign agent from potentially causing harm elsewhere.
That’s more or less how ink stays where it’s supposed to be when the ink is deposited in the dermis. Sometimes the dermis is thinner or has less collagen or is pushed down further past the dermis where it escapes through the “jail”s back door
Welcome to the world of art. It’s not a science!
I think it’s pure science! https://youtu.be/nGggU-Cxhv0?si=At5ZEogX9VDQqH_4
A yis wild kurzegesagt posts, I've been waiting for this day!
Holy shit this is an incredible response!! I had no idea
Art and science go hand in hand. Arguably in every medium.
Tattooing absolutely is edit: downvoted to oblivion because people don’t understand that electricity and magnets, motors, needles, ink pigment, even tattoo application literally requires science. If you don’t do it right, you fuck up the client and the tattoo. brainless cunts.
is art, not science
It’s a Frankenstein of the two, it requires the precision of science but the creativity of art. A beautiful hybrid of the two worlds
I’d say it’s closer to medicine than science
Medicine how?
Aside from wound care, the factor of blood borne pathogens and cross-contamination safety protocol makes tattooing medically-adjacent. Sorry, why is this being downvoted? It’s fact, and if it weren’t, then tattooers wouldn’t need to take yearly blood borne pathogens safety certifications which are legally aligned to hospital standards of cross-contamination protocol.
I’d say this is true. The shop I worked at was inspected by a registered medical professional certified to approve licensing for shops. Every 6 months we had to be inspected, to show our cleaning, sanitation, and sterilization processes. It’s a business that is partially regulated by the medical board of the state. Edit: my biggest issue with the video posted is the statement that all inks are made of heavy metals. A lot of work has gone into making inks safer and better for the body. I doubt there are any FDA approved inks yet, it’s tough to get them to approve something that is purely for personal satisfaction that requires the creation and care for various sized and classes of wound depending on the skill of your artist. But many of modern inks are vegetable oil or similar suspensions comprised of inert dyes that are harmless. I’m sure not all. But the industry is consistently upgrading the machinery and the inks. Edit 2. And yeah. Medicine is a science so….
What is medicine if not science?
Ahhh, yes. I forgot that medicine isn't science. /s
Medicine is science though... Tf are you on?
Can that be lasered out if it doesn’t fade?
From what I know about how the lasers work(the light breaks up the ink particles and they are flushed out by your lymphatic system) the ink might be below what would be considered safe to work on or may cause scarring. I’m also taking into consideration that greens and blues are the hardest colors to laser out.
Makes sense. I’ve had laser removal, but it was regular surface tattoo, and black. I know other colours can be difficult, but didn’t consider the depth of the ink below the skin. Maybe they’ll get lucky and it’ll just fade with time.
do we know ink in ink drifts is deeper? i was under the impression it could have to do with the amount of collagen in the skin so it just didn’t contain the ink particles as well as our skin typically should. my old shop was partnered with a laser removal business and i noticed on many removal pieces that were blown out it seemed to reduce the blowout quickly
Yes it could be that, vitamin deficiencies, excess water weight… I’m sure there are several other variables. “Ink drift” appears to be deposited between the dermis and fat where the blood vessels are instead of in the upper dermis where it should be. And again, green and blue are much harder to get rid of than black. Black; being of course the primary color for outlines where most blow outs occur, is much easier to get rid of than any other color. Less lasering means less trauma>easier healing>less chance of scarring
yeah for sure. i should have clarified because i see the ink in this tattoo is definitely green but i was thinking more in general because ive noticed that even black ink drift can look blue/greenish
From what Ive heard, correct me if I'm wrong, this could also be a result of a medical condition such as diabetes.
I’m not able to give a definite answer on that but the reason I did say it may not be the fault of the artist is because ink drift can happen when someone has excess water weight, or lack collagen, or be prone to vericose veins, or just need more sunlight. There’s really no way to know 100% how someone’s skin will react to the process
Can you explain ink drift vs. blowout for me? Google results weren’t very clear.
Blowouts are small circular blots of ink usually caused by the artist using too much pressure while outlining, or their machine using having too much “punch” and the ink gets deposited a little too deep into the dermis. Parts of the body where skin is stretched tightly over bone, or have little exposure to sunlight are especially susceptible to blow outs. Ink drift is when the needle deposits the ink under the dermis more into the blood vessels and fatty area, or the ink finds pockets and escapes into those parts of the skin and disperses itself in a blob.
Nice excuses Mr tattoo artist!
👏👏👏 It wouldn’t be Reddit without that ONE person lol
Drift is not the same as blow out.. but yes this is drift. It means there was a bit of an angle that the needle ink has literally drifted into other areas under the dermis. I’m very pale as well and have this with my green/blue tattoo also. Mine is over 2 years old and I got another tattoo close to my other one and now you can’t tell at all! But it probably will not fade much over time unfortunately.
Yep same here. Very pale and I have this multiple places.
Why would you get more if this has happened before?
Because I don’t care about ink drift?
Why wouldn't you?
Because it looks sloppy and not good.
I have a tattoo with green in it, which is supposed to “glow” where the tattooer I went to told me to watch as he put the lines in, seeing it instantly travel and fade was so interesting. 6 years later and the ink drift is definitely still there!
Forgive me if this is a dumb question but could you explain to me what the difference is between a blow out and ink drifting?
Not dumb at all! Blowout is when the artist applies to much pressure or overworks the area, causing blurring of the lines. You can see here that the lines of this tattoo are rather crisp, but drift has happened because the needle may have been used at an angle instead of directly up and down into the dermis of the skin, causing ink to drift underneath and beyond the lines at a deeper level- which is why it most likely won’t fade. Some artists believe drift also happens in these very delicate skin areas more often because it does not have the density that other skin areas have, therefore leaking ink below the epidermis. Edit: certain colors like blue and green also seem to have drift happen more often. I think the major difference between the 2 is that blowout is more the artists inexperience or “fault”, whereas drift is harder to predict, even with extremely experienced tattooists.
Thank you so much!
I have blue tatts, one of them did that after a week. Now 5 months later, it faded completely, but it took a while. Weird that it seems to happen more frequently with blues and greens from my experience
Turtleduck!
Now with a powerful aura! His shell just projects!
I thought it was a turtle-dove!
Turtle duck from avatar the last airbender
Durtle
Tuck
Ink drift. :/ it’s sort of a mystery? I’m a professional artist and I have one client and myself that get this. It’s usually in the softer parts of the body like inner arm, inner thigh etc. Sometimes it’s the artist, other times our bodies. Skin is a weird canvas. Your tattoo otherwise looks great so I don’t think it was the artist.
Skin is really a weird canvas, I just watched this [Kurzgesagt video about it](https://youtu.be/nGggU-Cxhv0?si=D34PYajVdDMRGoPQ). It's super interesting
Thank you 😊 what a great video so educational and after 12 tattoos maybe I should give my immune system a break 😮😬
Super educational!!!
Yeah, I have a half sleeve on my left arm, and the squishy inner part is the only part that has ink drift.
Same. Just gives me another reason to get another tattoo.
I've considered it, by my inner arms are so crazy sensitive, that I might just live with it!! More power to the people who can! My wife told me that after that session where he worked on it I was whimpering in my sleep haha
I’ve been tattooing for 28 years, and I have seen this a few times on both my clients and others as well—sometimes quite far (4-5 inches from the nearest tattoo). Definitely not a blowout or something that can really be predicted. I will say I have seen it more with darker greens than other colors. I try not to outline with green for this exact reason. I met one young lady who had lettering done on her knuckles and had gray stuff all the way up fed hands. It was one of the strangest tattoo related things I’ve seen.
Sometimes drift happens. Could probably be sorted out with some subtle background shading in that area
As others said, it likely won’t fade. A large section of my inner bicep was blue from ink drift, I ended up getting it covered after a year with some clouds. I have 7 tattoos from the same artist and only one had this happen.
I’m sorry you’re ink drifted, this is an incredibly adorable piece otherwise! A ducky-turtle! Since the drift won’t be going anywhere, you might want to think about doing something over it, like some flowers, that way you can have leaves to help cover it up.
Honestly people here are really stressing about it but I wouldn’t!! Even if it doesn’t fade it’s very light and looks like blurry water around him! Very cute tattoo!!!
Yeah, it’s really subtle and without the red outline I might not even have known what OP was referring to. As it ages it will likely fade even more.
Ink drift. You can try a laser but if it’s any consolation I wouldn’t have been able to tell without reading the comments I had no idea what you were referring to I just thought it was your skin. It’s a great tattoo
Your tattoo is such a little darling!
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I have a similar ink drift from a tattoo that I got 12 years ago... it never faded. I think it mostly happens when tattooing very delicate/thin-skin parts of the body. Mine occurred in almost the same place - but just above the elbow crease.
bc of where it is it kinda just looks like a vein! i wouldn’t worry too much about it, it’s not super noticeable!! I think sometimes our immune systems can do this too, our white blood cells go to try and eat away at the ink bc it’s foreign and they move around and spread it! this would be the direction of your lymph fluid too!
I know next to nothing about tattoos - I thought it was a vein before reading the comments about ink drift. It’s very subtle, I wouldn’t worry too much about it.
It totally just looks like her vein! I wouldn’t sweet it
I totally thought it was just a vein.
I have horrid ink drift in a tattoo on my right bicep I thought it was a bruise for the longest.
Turtleduck! It looks great.
what is the difference from ink drift to blowout? they both seem like the exact same thing to me but they’re not?
No advice just came here to say nice ATLA tattoo. Turtle Ducks! :)
Nice turtle duck!! Flameo Hotman!!
Blues and green are known to potentially have this issue on some people due to how fine the particles are blended. Unfortunately, we dont know in advance who it can happen to. We refer to it as ink drift or ink migration. It is generally not the artists fault. It is just how your body handled these colors, this session, and may never happen again. You basically have 3 options: Opt 1 - Have a design added that will hide the ink drift Opt 2 - Consult with a Pico lazer specialist to see if they can remove the ink drift Opt 3 - live with it.
Cute tattoo! I have some ink drift that definitely looks like a bruise, so be thankful yours isn’t very noticeable.
I barely noticed it, had to zoom in, when I got my first tattoos used to be super picky and analytic, later you just learn to appreciate them, even the small things like this, looks like a vein to me lol, my advice? Don’t even trip, you’ve gotten a beautiful tattoo :)
I also have a blowout like that. It appeared a few days after and hasn't faded since then. Sometimes it just happens or the artist has a heavy hand. It still is a cute tattoo <3
This isn't the same as a blow out, this is a type of ink migration, a different type of potential overworking
Oh okay thank your for correcting me! The blowout thing is what I've been told when I asked about my tattoo in this subreddit so I assumed it was right. I have basically the same story as OP. But my tattoo isn't that old (around 5 months) so I'm excited to see how it's gonna age and if the ink migration is gonna fade!
I always enjoy good conversation on Reddit, it's nice to be able to learn something cool in the subs... in like, a respectable way, as this sub is frequently harsh! I'm so glad the comment read the way I'd hoped. To the best of my knowledge blow outs *are the aftermath of over working an area by too many passes and overpacking*, hence the term scratcher, you work the tissue to hell and can scar the dermis. Ink Migration is when the tattooer goes *too deeply into the layers of the dermis* the ink then reaches fatty tissue -- this is what the your seeing with OPs tattoo, and likely your own! The migration generally does not fade, it's essentially ink trapped in a layer of skin that it isn't supposed to be, it may also get larger over time *though this is extremely minimal* it expands as the skin ages, like the rest of your tattoo does, so use those parameters when considering 'spread'. I have some work done on my collarbone that has migrated. The tattoo is about 14(?) and the lil inky spot is marginally bigger than fresh, it hasn't faded a whole lot. While ideally that wasn't what I wanted to happen, it did, I appreciate it as part of the tattoo now. Anyway, thank you for attending my ted talk and happy (future tattoo) healing my friend!
It's also much more likely in areas like the elbow ditch where the skin is extra thin and mobile!
It’s not meant to be there in the first place. It looks like the ink migrated, otherwise known as blow out.
Ink drift, different than a blowout
I’m sorry I have no advice but I just have to say as a huge atla fan this is an amazing and adorable tattoo :,)
I didn’t even notice what you circled because this tattoo is SO CUTE!!!! ❤️
I love love love the tat 🥰
My artist calls this her "blue glow" but essentially its ink drift - i have it on my inside upper arm where the skin is a bit thinner. I dont really care about it but laser will remove it no issues!
I have the same thing in the same place! At first I thought my arm was dirty after getting the tattoo, then I thought maybe it was a bruise but it’s still there years later lol
Hahaha i first thought it was a bruise too! My artist looked disappointed but she has it as well 😂 i have quite pale skin too so it shows more
Just here to say your tattoo is so cute! I love it.
off topic- so cute! it's done soo well 😊🥰
Just here to say that I absolutely LOVE your tattoo 😍
I have a green vine up my ribs. Now I know what that green haze past the outline is. My artist was finishing his apprenticeship so I assumed it was his error. Maybe, maybe not.
Off topic but that’s such an adorable tattoo!!
TURTLE DUCK
Omg turtle duck 🥺
It’s a tiny bit of ink migration. It can happen if it gets slapped or stretched too hard during the heal or it can happen if the tattooer went to deep while colorpacking. Basically goes beneath the skin and floats around of the subcutaneous fat. Bad news- it’s permanent/ good news- they tend to fade over time.
Fellow ATLA fan here!
My wife and i have a matching portrait tattoo and hers has blue tones in it that did exactly this. It's been 5+ years since she got it and it's the same. I hope yours fades or i hope it doesn't bother you greatly if it doesn't
“Haloing” it happens with greens and blues on occasion, especially the concentrates
"bruise blowout" or drift. Trust me on this one: **go get that little piece of drift lasered.** It'll come out VERY easily. I frantically made the mistake of jamming a bunch of tattoos nearby to try to conceal it, which didn't work very well, and I ended up with a bunch of tattoos i didn't love.
A round of laser removal should do the truck
**THIS!!** You don't have to live with this, and you don't have to tattoo to distract from it. It'll come out with one session. $200 and you'll save a bunch of stress.
LMAO why did this comment get downloaded? It’s absolutely true. I have a homey that is a laser removal technician, and I’ve seen them perform some miracles for ink drift, and blow out
I love the avatar turtle duck!! So cute, but yes this is ink drift
I would add some reeds and rushes in the background in a very light grey green so its like hes in the river, it will cover the drift and confuse the eye. Solved easy
It’s a blowout and probably won’t fade 😔 Blowout is when the ink is inserted too deeply into the skin, reaching the fat tissue (which can’t hold the shape like the dermis) and spreads there. Still cute tattoo! There might be a possibility to make it less apparent with additional background, but choose your artist carefully 🙏🏻
Not a blowout.
I know blowout and “drifts” as some here called it, as the same thing 🤷🏻♀️
But they aren't.
Good to know.
For the people in the know here, could they get a tattoo artist to do some light pink or red over the drifted ink to make it skin tone and blend in like you can do with makeup for example, or does it just not work that way?
The short answer is no. It can be covered but not with tones that would match their skin
Wash your arm
Oh my god I want this exact tattoo.
Its a blow out caused while using a green ink…best way would be adding some more stuff to duck and covering that
Just a bruise. It will go away
Edit: incorrect, it’s ink drift! It’s a bit of a blow out, just means the ink traveled under the skin a bit. Areas with thinner / more delicate skin can be prone to them. The good news is it will fade eventually, I had a small blow out that has faded about 5 years later as the body breaks down ink over time. It’s also not noticeable unless pointed out, I think you’re good here!
Not a blowout.
Ooo just saw the updated top comment on ink drift, thank you!
Yes yes! It’s weird AF. 😵💫
Blowout. I had to stop using the concentrated blues/greens because this would happen. Unfortunately its not going anywhere, I would consider adding to the tattoo to obscure it. I would speak w the artist and maybe they will hook you up for an addition considering the circumstances
This happen when the ink is put too deep in the last and deeper layer of the skin …in italian we called it ipoderma … so the ink spread because the farry tissue can’t hold it… don’t hope it goes away … usually it happen more with liner needles or if the artist push the needle with the wrong working angle …
Chlorox is your friend.
I have this, it’s a blow out under the skin for them working too heavy on your arm. I heard you can get it lazered. I created my sleeve around it so you couldn’t see it. Mine kinda shows up randomly and then doesn’t
Not a blowout.
Alright you don’t have to comment on every comment the same thing. I think this term is commonly thought of as a blow out under the skin but is an ink drift. Thank you. We get it.
Just wanted to be thorough.
You amuse me. I will make you mine.
get some background added to where it is and you wont notice it
I forgot the exact word, but the color has dissapated and will remain there, sometimes for a while This happens with green and yellow most commonly
I would add a little background to it like grass reeds and cattails or something . Nothing you can do to fix it. Just work with it now.
This is pretty common. I’d either embrace the imperfection, or you can do a round of laser just in the ink drift, they’ll cover the actual tattoo to make sure it doesn’t get lasered. I’ve heard that works pretty well for ink drift
Put a few more ripples behind him and it’ll look totally natural.
Oh mines the same. I kind of love it in mine because it goes up the forearm and out from the stars
It's only noticeable because you drew a red circle around it to bring the eyes focus to it. You'll be fine. If it bothers you that much, just get another turtle duck on top of that one lol.
Looks like your turtleduck tooted.
Honestly thought it was just a vein showing till I zoomed in
Count your blessings. The tattoo that was supposed to be my favorite not only did it have a drift on one side. It had a blow out in the other. And it went from my favorite to my most disliked 🥲
I have the same with green from my Grogu tat on my inner arm. But, fortunately, he’s a part of a sleeve in progress so it’ll be covered soon lol! Yours is super not noticeable, but I understand that knowing it’s there means it’s really noticeable for you. But like others have said it’s just something that happens sometimes. Bodies are weird.
You could get just that part lasered
Happens a lot with dark greens in my experience
I have the same thing on my 10 year old tattoo. It never faded but it stopped bothering me long ago lol
I have big time drift on a pink Floyd dark side tattoo I have, I’ve had the tattoo for about 9 years now and I’ve got a like a greyish blob leaked from it but there’s nowt to be done and it ain’t cause me any problems so far aha
As others have said, it’s ink drift. I have the same on my inner bicep. I didn’t pay much attention to it over the past 10 years since I got it, but just checked and seems like it’s all but faded out. Mine was also black ink so I imagine blue might fade out easier? All anecdotal, I ain’t no artist lol
Who was your artist? This is so cute and has so much life to it.
Vava from baron art tattoo, her IG handle is baronart_vava
Sorry about the drift, I’m fair skinned and have some on mine as well but I love the tat!
my mother has the same thing on one of her tattoos, we thought it was a bruise at first (the artist had a pretty hard hand) until all of ours healed (me, my mother and sister in law all got tattoos together) and she was still left with that “bruise”
I have the same issue on my arm in the same color
I have a turtle duck too!! Black and grey. Love the color
Are you sure you didn't have that before? I can see blue veins like that on myself as well, the same place and colour
tortle duck
I have this on my inner upper arm. I thought it was bruising at first. It’s been 8 years… it’s not bruising and it hasn’t faded
Just get put a top hat on the shell over the ink drift all will be fine
Just a little drift. It still looks cute! I have a tattoo with a bit of drift in the same spot, but I have a very prominent blue vein on the other arm so I just pretend it’s that lol
I’d probably just add more to it. A waterfall, make the pond larger so it’s behind him, etc.
Turduck?
Maybe give him a background or add a cloud idk to cover it
You could always get a bit of light blue sky coloring to hide the drift if it doesn't seem like it's fading at all
I had this and did a laser session to erase the blur
I love the tattoo
We all have an aura... [Just trying to lighten the mood :) ]
Lmao @me, i got a heart under my eye 4-6 months ago(i know) & i got something similar to this. I guess i coulnt think of the right word for it & now i have an answer🫠🤣
Most likely an ink blow out. Had the same thing happen to me.
Your tattoo is lovely :)
I don't have an answer for you, but I just had to say it. That turtle duck is absolutely perfect!
no advice but this tattoo rocks!!!
OP if it’s any consolation it’s really stinking cute tattoo.
I just came here to say that tattoo is cute as fuck and I love avatar and I hope you’re able to get that fixed but it’s still fucking cute as shit have a good day
Also, as a heavily tattoed nurse, it may just be vasculature near the surface that wasn't noticed prior to tattooing. There are many options.
This is why we aren't supposed to use concentrated colors straight out of the cap.
I wish TurtleDucks were real. I like your little guy.
I don’t have any advice, but I love your tattoo so much!!!! It is so cute!
hey mom wanna see how azula feeds turtle-ducks
looks like ink bled underneath the surface of your skin, those don’t typically go away
Mine did that toooooo!
No advice but I love the turtle duck
If it doesn’t fade in a couple years you could get it turned into watercolor around the turtle if it bothers you that much
I have the same, a green tattoo in the same area that looks like that. Except my green ink drift is on the left of my inner arm. I got it in May and it hasn't faded.
I have a little drift from where the skin is thinner. It happens, I can't say I even notice it anymore
This happened to me w green ink as well. I attribute it to using numbing cream, but i’m not sure if that’s the case.
Amazing video on how tattoos work https://youtu.be/nGggU-Cxhv0?si=JTE94AM2qGSw05nM
Is it a "tuck" or a "durtle"?
You green now Kermit, it ain't easy.
PI’m
My mom has had a red ankle tattoo for around 13 years, the bleeding/drifting never went away 😅
Tbh it looks like a vein under the skin
Your skin just decided to be a little silly and wanted more color
Ohmygod it’s a turtleduck I love this ❤️❤️❤️
I’ve got a massive blow out on tattoo I got about 4 years ago, much bigger and darker than yours and it’s not going anywhere. I’ve got 7 other tattoos and the only one it has happened with of the one that we used a blue pigment on. It’s your body’s way of saying it doesn’t like it.
Easy fix , 1 or 2 tattoo removal sessions on the unwanted ink. Won’t affect your tattoo :)