My first tattoo was on the side of my leg and I never really noticed any swelling. This tattoo is on the inside of my right leg closer to my ankle. It reaches from the calf to almost my shin.
Today I worked on homework for 12 hours (yeah, 12 stupid hours on just homework…blech)…so that meant my ankle/foot was on the ground while I was on the couch, table, and computer. Tonight I look down and realize that my ankle and foot are seriously swollen.
My tattoo doesn’t hurt, my leg doesn’t hurt, it’s not red and the tattoo isn’t raised. It all looks really normal…and actually better than my first tattoo did at this stage. But I’m seriously freaking out about the swelling because I have NO idea if this is normal. It’s been 2.5 days since my tattoo. I do not know if it was swollen yesterday…I assume that the answer is no simply because I’ve been studying my leg like crazy for any sign of problems, lol.
Right now I’ve got my foot elevated and a bag of ice on my ankle (not on my tattoo). I’m kind of a hypochondriac. So, if it’s like this in the morning…should I go to the doctor? Is this normal? Is this a warning of an infection (again, no real signs of one)?
Sigh….the problem with studying healthcare is you turn into this and worry about everything because you know of all of the awful things that can happen. I have images of my foot falling off and waking up to it being black and needing to be amputated. Ugh.
If your foot fell off while you were sleeping you wouldn’t need to get it amputated.
I would give it some time. My wife just got a wrist tat and it was swollen for a few days and then it went away. I don’t know why/how, you would probably know more about the mechanics of this than I do but I’m sure you are fine. If your foot turns black, falls off or you hallucinate I would go see a doctor.
Oh! Super good point! lol
I’ll try to stop panicking for the next couple of days and keep off of it as much as possible. I guess really I just needed to get my irrational thoughts down and for someone to point out just HOW irrational they are. lmao
This isn’t really a tattoo answer so much as a swollen ankle answer…you said you were going to keep weight off it, but not putting any weight on it led to the swelling in the first place…
Like the idiot I am, I tripped over my own feet a few weeks ago and went down over the side of my foot (it was really special, in the middle of a busy road and everything) and it swelled pretty bad AFTER i had sat doing nothing. It had twinged a bit whilst I was walking, but then I went to a meeting for three hours, stood up and nearly fell over. When I went to a&e they said that I did need to rest it, but I also needed to put weight on it, and walk about for circulation and let the muscles recover.
Obviously, there are loads of difference here: the location of the injury, the cause of the swelling and difference in pain. I am, in no way, medically trained. BUT, it seems to me if the swelling was caused by doing nothing then whilst you DO need to be careful, you also want to walk about it, get circulation going and fresh blood to the area, which will help you heal better and so should take down the swelling. It’s like on aeroplanes- you’re meant to keep your feet moving so your circulation keeps moving and you don’t get a build up of blood.
This could be utterly, utterly useless, but just a thought?
I’ve been walking around a LOT the last few days…but no real elevation for it. Yesterday I was back and forth and back and forth throughout the house with everything. Keeping moving to prevent blood clots is a different thing than for swelling though…but I can see your point. Sadly though that just isn’t working.
I kept it elevated through the night and it’s looking a little more bony again instead of puffy…I’ll do the same off and on today and reapply the ice pack. I have to get the house clean (after getting back from our vacation it looks like a bomb went off in here!) but I’ll take breaks.
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