I work in a hospital, and I forgot my lotion during one of my shifts.
One of the guys told me that this “surgical lubricant” makes a good replacement.
Not that I’ll use it consistently…but I did use some during my shift today. It seemed smooth and relieved the itching (I’m 6 days in on healing).
I did notice that it left a dead skin like film on my
skin. I don’t know if that would be a bad thing or if it even matters.
So…is this stuff decent for my tattoo?!
first off i would like to say that i have never heard of it being used before,
1.. the skin like film it left would wory me as there is a barrier for bacteria to form under and hold against the tatt area.
2.. after 6 days in on healing then you should be able to use just non scented body lotion from now on
Make sure the lotion does not have lanolin in it. Lanolin causes tattoos to fade.
I’m with Outlaw. I’ve NEVER heard of anyone using surgilube on a tattoo. Can’t say one way or the other. I can guess, based on similar products. Most similar of which would be vasoline. I believe surgilube is very similar?
Vasoline creates a barrier that clogs pores and seals bacteria in. It creates two of the three main ingredients for infection. A Wet, Warm, and Dark Place. You created a wet and a warm place for it to grow bacteria which causes infection by sealing in the bacteria, creating the barrier, and when that is done, body heat is also trapped under it, which increases surface temperature to as much as 102 degrees. Perfect for the bacteria which causes infection to grow. All you had to do to create the perfect environement for infection would have been to keep it completely covered all day.
As Outlaw said, you only need to keep ointment on it for the first 3-4 days. I always suggest Tattoo Goo instead of triple antibiotic ointment, Vitamin A&D Ointment, or Neosporin, Because its the only one of those four that does not create the barrier.
After the first 3-4 days you can use lotion, but YOU DON’T HAVE TO. Its better to let it go dry than to create a bacteria field, especially if there is no scabbing. Use lotions that do not have lanolin.
@
Are all tattoo artists morons?
1. Surgilube does not contain Petroleum Jelly (Vaseline), which is a moot point anyway. Standard post-operative skin cancer excision wound care protocol calls for packing the sterile wound with Petroleum Jelly and stitching a gauze pad over the site to keep the Petroleum Jelly in place for 7-14 days. For example, a 2” wide by .25” deep wound would be packed with nearly 1/4 cup of Petroleum Jelly. White blood cells keep the sterile ” Wet, Warm, and Dark Place” under the Petroleum Jelly sterile moist and well protected from airborne contaminants and infections.
2. The “dead skin like film” was dried Chlorhexidine, Methylcellulose, and Glycols.
3. Surgilube contains Chlorhexidine Gluconate 20%, which is bactericidal and bacteriostatic. At concentrations of just 2% Chlorhexidine “is more protective against infection than is povidone–iodine,” which kills just about everything.
4. Chlorhexidine kills bacteria, fungi and enveloped viruses (Hepatitis B/C/D, Ebola, Herpes Simplex, Influenza, HIV, etc.). Chlorhexidine is used for surgical scrub and for wound care.
5. “Preoperative cleansing of the patient’s skin with chlorhexidine–alcohol is superior to cleansing with povidone–iodine for preventing surgical-site infection after clean-contaminated surgery.”[1]
6. Surgilube works like Stencil Stuff or Speed Stick because of the Glycols. However, Surgilube has the already mentioned added benefit of being both bactericidal and bacteriostatic. While every artist has their own preferences for stencil permanence, I believe the added benefits of Chlorhexidine in Surgilube far outweigh any possible stencil permanence issues.
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