wierd skin rash in tattoo

[tatrobyrd]

for about 6 months now i have had this itchy spot on my upper right arm within my tattoo. once i start scratching it gets worse and i have to stop myself or else ill bleed.once i started scratching the first spot it has now turned into 5. there is one now that is not on the tattoo. i have had this tattoo for over 7 years without a problem. its seems to itch once or twice a day and doesnt go away even if i cover it with creams and bandaids. ive researched it but cant seem to figure out what it is and now im worried becouse it seems to be spreading but only on the skin in and around my tattoo. these spots look like if you had a mosquito bite that you never stopped scratching. my skin around it seems to feel a little thicker and kind of numb. they are flat and not bumpy. anyone have anything like this or any idea about it. im stumped

[glynnr]

Continued (sorry)
The next thing on the list was a strong steroid cream. So I went to the doctor, warned her in advance about the scary tattoos she was about to see (new doctor for me) and she had a look. Going to the doctor was a very good move. She echoed what many of you have experienced, saying that it is possible that your skin can have a reaction to the ink even after many years of no reaction at all. I mentioned that some people on this site had had good experiences with steroid creams and suggested Dermovate as one that someone had used here. She agreed that would seem to be a good choice and wrote me out a prescription.

Time for the mini experiment. One arm got the Dermovate, twice a day, the other didn’t. The result? The arm that got the Dermovate showed signs of the bumps disappearing in a matter of days. In a week it was almost all gone. The other arm was ALSO starting to disappear (both arms had shown improvement before I even went to the doctor). It has only just gone completely, about a month later than the Dermovate-applied arm.

So what is the upshot of all this? It’s a temporary skin reaction, not a permanent situation or dangerous condition.  In my case it took about 6 to 10 weeks to disappear (6 in the arm that got the cream). Steriodal cream will hasten the process and for some of you who have this a long time, it might be a real help.

When I continue my tattoos, I’ll be armed (no pun intended) with the knowledge that it WILL go away though it may take longer in some people and with some colours. Just one of the prices we pay to have something that gives us  such meaning and self-definition. Hope this helps.

[glynnr]

Like a number of you here, I came up with a rash of bumps in old ink, in my case several years. I had never had any trouble with my tattoos. I have a traditional Japanese half sleeves which extend to the chest. In my case, the tattoo bumps occurred only on the inside of my arms. They did not itch, though I know for many of you they can. The rash was widespread in that area and the bumps only occurred inside the ink. There were no bumps in the inkless areas around the tattoo so I knew clearly that the bumps were being caused  by the ink itself.  [By the way, just as an aside, I must have had the absolute WORST time to discover these bumps—at the Olympics, at the London Athletics arena, right before the women’s 400 relay, the one where the US women set a world record…. Kind of hard to pay attention to the what should be an amazing life experience when you just looked down to see that  someone has injected you with smallpox.]

But I digress….

Because they only occurred on the inside of my arms and in summer made me think that it must be down to a fungal infection caused by sweating and perhaps an inability of my skin to clear itself due to sweating, etc. etc. Some of you suggested Flucazonole and I tried that first. And…no effect. In a way, I was okay with that, because I wanted to rule things out. So no fungus. But what was it?

[JoseA44]

a tat i had gotten in February started with the same symptoms, only a part of the tat area was itchy and swollen, i have mild case of psoriasis so i have some Halobetosol Propionate Ointment not the cream so i put some on the area that was itchy after three days there was a big difference much better. my two cents is that i think once the itching starts via a scratch, insect bite or something and you start to scratch your body also starts to combat the ink as a foreign matter hence the itching. I'm not a doctor but that's what makes sense to me so its very important not to scratch or touch the area.

[pordoulis]

Guess What? i have the same problem a year now i have a tattoo to a piece of my back and to the half of the hand and if i scratch it it itches like crazy it doesnt stop . i have noticed that hot showers make it worse. i am really thinking of removing it but will it make it stop or it will make it worse.

[Diemnzz]

Im so glad I'm not the ONLY 1.... I was freaking out. I went to the ER twice, the first time they told me I had poison ivy or poison oak. Gave me prednisone, benedrly tabs, and told me to use calamine lotion for itching. Well no work, it was ITCHING like CRAZY... I had to got back to the ER, at least this time the guy was like " good thing you don't have bugs" yeah I'm so excited, but WTF do I have, NOT poison oak or ivy. He don't know I'm having allergy to somthg. Long story short went to specialist, he don't even know. So now I'm taking Zyrtec 10mg, fluticasone propionate cream...... Steroids I'm assuming. But I've tried it all neosporin,, alcohol, toothpaste, benadryl pills and the cream,hydrocortisone cream, cortisone creams, lotion, no lotion. Itch x, lotramin, triple paste, desulym, you name it I've tried it..... NO JOKE... I know hott water is not good but I let it burn it in shower and I get about 7-10 min of ITCH relief... But other than that I have found NOTHING ARRRRGGGG.... I'm sending away for Advandan cream. Fingers crossed. Good luck all. If I find somthg I WILL SHARE...

[Cosmostressed]

I too share the excruciating painful aggravating itch from these many little tiny blisters of clear fluid on my fingers. I do hair and have kept a few here and there for many many yrs but recently have had a terrible outbreak. Another coworker at the salon has it too. She is using some cream from dr for dry skin that she had from another issue. The bottle she had said: triamc, ureac, menthol, camphor........whatever that is..lol. My mother and I came up with the idea of using desitin cream..works but still too moist to heal all the way. Tonight i'm trying moist at soothing care powder for chaffing and irritation..has zinc oxide like desitin but will keep it dryer since its a powder. Hopefully this will do the tric! Will repost soon to let u know.