Healing issue with Rapier 2

This is the 3rd black and grey tattoo come back with this on it... all three have been long healed (over a month). These spots are not going away. It almost seems like a rash on and under the skin, its real dry and flaky but doesn't seem to hurt the client... 2 of the tattoos that came back with this were on large leg tattoos... 5 hour + sessions, the 3rd was on a stomach... Any idea on how to get rid of these spots and what is causing them?? This is the first time seeing this in 5 year of tattooing and they have all happened in the last 3 months or so...Attachment 5566

Could be your ink. Some blacks are known to grow mold. Give it a whiff, if it stinks then that could be your problem. I personally have never seen that before, but I don't think a machine would be the cause.

I see hair..could be hair bumps.. I doubt your machine is the issue.

It's definitely not the machine. I've NEVER seen a reaction that's purely been down to a machine before. Reactions are always down to cleanliness and hygiene. If you know that you tattoo clean then it's either the ink or the customer not looking after it properly. But because it's happened more than once i doubt it's the customer's fault. Which only leaves the ink as the suspect IMO

Ask the client to tell you how they took care of the tattoo. What they put on it, how often etc. Its always best to not ask if they did what you told them cause 90% of the time they will lie and say yes. they could be allergic to the soap or lotion they are using. They could be a chronic carrier for mild forms of staph or other minor bacterial stuff. Check your bottles of pigment. Smell them for sure! Are these the only people coming back with this problem or have you put black in others that are having no issue?

And for the record anyone who has taken a BBP class that talks about staph realize there are many different kinds of staph bacteria. Some very minor that are just a nuisance and others that will kill you. You may still want your client to talk to their Dr just in case.

Well we had something similar in our studio once!...one of our newer guys was in a habit of forgetting to close up the twist top on he's greywash inks....despite me telling him constantly"do the fucking top up after using it" my reason being that the bottle was open to the air and it could possibly be a breeding ground for bacteria...now not long after this he had about 3 or 4 customer develop a spotty rash not disimilar to the picture posted..it only happened on b&g not black or any other colour...these spots lasted months and one customer even had a biopsy which proved to be inconclusive!....Now i still maintained that the problem was due to the greywash being left opened even though it wasnt a everyday occurance...Anyway i made him throw the offending bottles away and the problem has never occured since .The artist involved now knows i wont tolerate it happening again and makes sure the tops are twisted up tightly and knows the shit will hit the fan if it happens again...thankfully the customers involved were understanding and the rash/spots eventually disapeared....

I agree 100% that its not the machine... I may have left the tops open on the bottles once or twice... I bought a new set of greywash (fusion) just the other day so I can't smell the old bottles but I have a feeling that could of been an issue. I smelled the new bottles and one of them does have a little vinegar smell. We smelled some of the other fusion greywash sets and a couple bottles smelled horrible, like rotten lunch meat... those bottles were tossed. I do a ton of black and grey and Ive only seen the problem 3 times, in my 3 favorites, only in the greywash never in the black. Is there anything topical I can recommend using? The first guy I saw this in was a sewer worker who was 50 years old, 300 lbs, 6'6 and was later told diabetic. I tried to get him to go to the Dr. for months and he wouldn't... he finally did and the Dr. gave him a name for what he had, but of course he cant remember...

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Originally Posted by gangstajay

I see hair..could be hair bumps.. I doubt your machine is the issue.

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This is right below a bellow button.. right below the picture is ridiculous thunderbush

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Originally Posted by Administrator

Ask the client to tell you how they took care of the tattoo. What they put on it, how often etc. Its always best to not ask if they did what you told them cause 90% of the time they will lie and say yes. they could be allergic to the soap or lotion they are using. They could be a chronic carrier for mild forms of staph or other minor bacterial stuff. Check your bottles of pigment. Smell them for sure! Are these the only people coming back with this problem or have you put black in others that are having no issue?

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You may have missed this in the post, but this is something that has happened 3 times...so I'd tend to rule out the healing factor as been the cause (unless by way of total fluke they all healed their tattoos the same way). A staph could be the cause, but again, if 3 people have the same issue it would have most likely originated from the studio that the work was done. Something you may want to consider. Keep in mind that many forms of staph can live on a surface for weeks, even months in some cases.