I’m wondering if anyone can explain in a good way, from a MEDICAL viewpoint, why it is important to stay out of the sun, and not apply too much water. I’ve seen quite a few questions about why you shouldn’t do stuff, and from what I’ve seen now the answers can be broken down to: “Just don’t do it. Why? Because it’s not good for the tatto.”
Well I want to know WHY is it not good for the tattoo! What happens exactly?
And aside from that, is there any way for me to go in a sauna 5-6 days post-tattoo-day? If I cover it up with a water resistant band-aid, will it be doable then? Like, not giving it room to breathe for… An hour?
It probably sounds silly but it’s kind of “important” to be in the sauna in 5-6 days time.
if its that “important” for u to go into that sauna, then dont get the damn tattoo. plain and simple. use some common sense. u know why u shouldnt go into that sauna? do u know how much bacteria live in those places? your tattoo is an open wound and introducing bacteria to an open wound equals infection. PLEASE go get a tattoo and jump in the sauna with your waterproof band-aid and takes pictures when u do…
Sun is always bad for tattoos whatever their age but… When a tattoo first heals, the layer on skin between the ink and the surface is kind of thin, feels a bit rubbery and looks shiny. This means your new tattoo has less protection from the sun and it’s UV rays. Also, before the tattoo is healed it would hardly be a good plan to get it sun burned!
New tattoos don’t like sweat so exercise and something like a sauna would not be advisable that said, a good tattoo done by a top artist probably wouldn’t suffer too much. But really is it so important that you use a sauna? Your only looking at 10 days or so to heal anyway!
Swimming pools aren’t recommended because of the chlorine. Chlorine is bleach and can fade out a new tattoo quite badly especially in the first couple of days.
I hope that helps 🙂
Yodaddynukka… PLEASE go in a dark alley, dressed like a chick, get raped.. And take pictures! Spread them over the internet and ruin your life you wortless piece of s***
xxTOPDOGxx… You just answered in the exact way I didn’t want an answer in, so go join Yodaddynukka, will ya? That’d be great !
Bescholleytattoo… THANK YOU! At least someone in here has their head screwed on straight ! Helped some, but still not “deep” enough into the medical view I hoped for, so if anyone has more about it that would be lovely.
One special thing, why is sweat bad for new tattoos? And for any brainless gangsterwannabes or whatever, I’m not complaining that it’s bad for the tattoo, and I’m certainly not ARGUING that it doesn’t matter! So if you’re so stupid you think you just read an argument saying it doesn’t matter, take your BS somewhere else.
Hello Cal welcome to the forums. Im a physical therapist, and we do alot of wound care. i dont think there has been a study why to stay out of the sun for tattoos. Becs pretty much hit the nail on the head as fas as that goes. For the suana issue, bacteria love moist warm places. Saunas are definetly one of those places. With your tattoo only being 5 or 6 days old it is not fully healed. This is a perfect door for that bacteria to enter your system. There is a bug called mrsa (google it for the real name its too long). its basically a staff infection that is resistant to antibiotics. You definetly dont want it, it will kill you. The chlorine will fade your ink, but the bug may take your leg. Now for the sweating, all i can think of is the increase moisture around new skin can cause your skin to be more likely to break down and open back up. Thats just my guess. hopefully sherav will see this thread. That guys tattoo knoweledge is large. he might have done a study or know of one. hopefully this helped a little. good luck.
Patrick
Hi
The reason that you should keep out of the sun with tattoos is because of the effect that radiation has upon the skin cells and pigmentation of your own skin and that of the tattoo pigment.
The medical stuff:
Skin has a natural forming molecule that absorbs light. Trans-urocanic acid (t-UA). It covers your body.
This absorbs light and undergoes a chemical transmutation to form Cis-UA. This was thought to be the natural protective layer to sunlight especially UB. A separate protection is required for ultra violet.
However certain light spectrums within sunlight cause t-UA to form oxygenated radicals (which is bad shit).
Oxygen radicals are chemical rogues which can cause premature aging, but also for damaging DNA, suppressing the immune system, and causing some respiratory problems.
Melanin – This is an amino acid formed within the body and varies in make up and strength according skin pigmentation. These are called melanocytes and are formed within the stratum basale of the epidermis (just below the top layer of skin).
The job of melanin is to absorb UV. However UB is extremely harmful to the cells that produce melanocytes damaging and killing them (creating sun burn).
Layman Terms
Your skin is actually an organ outside of the body and so is very sensitive to external stimulus namely;
Heat, Cold, Radiation.
The epidermis (outer skin) contains menalin which is the natural protection from ultra-violet rays which contain rads. The darker your skin colour the more UV you can absorb before getting damage. This does not mean that tattoos will not be damaged.
Elastin is the fibres in your skin cells that allow the skin to stretch and repair itself – UV destroys these over time. This is what makes you go wrinkly or skin go saggy. This is called photo-aging. (Photo being light).
The problem you have is that the body can only block a limited amount of UV so the rest continues to penetrate deep into the skin layers. UB actually damages cell structure of your dna which can create tumours and encourage both oxygen and free radicals (that can be come skin cancer). UV kills off the cells. UB damages the cells so they cannot produce or work correctly.
The other factors are that the sun can dry out the natural moisture in your skin causing it to crack and peel much faster.
Since the tattoo is pigment trapped just below the epidermis in scar tissue as you shed skin the tattoo begins to fade as your immune system tries to force the pigment from your body. This is because it sees it as a foreign body.
Exposure to UV or UB rays can accelerate the skin shedding process. it also acts like a laser would (but on a much slower level) as it penetrates the skin almost to the dermis (lower level of skin) and destroys the cells.
Too much exposure to UV can result in basal cell and squamous cell skin cancer.
Whilst your body can withstand a certain amount of UV and UB (and we require light to function) the skin becomes easily burned and damaged which causes the pockets of pigment to loosen and allows a much faster blurring of tattoos.
The sauna issue is 2 fold of risk;
The first is one of hygiene the amount of bacteria in a sauna is immense the germs just love wet and hot places to breed and is frankly dripping with filth that is invis to the naked eye.
The good news is much of this harmless to us as it cannot penetrate the surface of our skin.
The bad news is that if you have an open wound a lot of germs and infection an easily enter the area and with it being wet it is a much more likely scenario.
Imagine somebody licking your wound – it is about the same risk.
The second part is how your body keeps the tattoo;
When you are tattooed you have hundreds of hole injected with pigment. The scab or sealing skin is holding the pigment in place until scar tissue forms on the surface (around 2 weeks).
It then takes upto 6 weeks for the scar tissue to fully heal beneath so that the pocket becomes fully sealed.
If you put a plaster on you may rip the scab off and that can pull the pigment from the tattoo. it also leaves you open to infection.
Hope that helps.
Take care
Matthew
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