LEAVE THAT BANDAGE ALONE
Your artist took care to cover your tattoo for a good reason - to keep air borne bacteria from invading your open skin, it is still a wound. Open flesh is a breeding ground for bacteria and infection.

In the first 24 hours, there may be a build up of plasma under the SecondSkin. This is completely normal. If so, just leave it on, or, if leaking, place a paper towel near the bottom edge and carefully push out excess plasma. Leave it on for three to five days.
You can shower with the bandage on but please be careful and do not allow water to get under the edge of the bandage. Once you remove the SecondSkin bandage keep your tattoo clean and start using unscented lotion 3-4 times a day.

Removal of SecondSkin Bandage
Remove the bandage in the shower. Peel up an edge or corner of SecondSkin. (If this proves difficult, you can attach medical tape to the corner of the film to help lift it.)
Slowly pull the film off. Do not pull it straight up away from the skin. Instead, pull the film back and across the skin while holding your skin taut. (Like a command strip, grab at the bottom and pull down, and with the skin not away.) Try and pull slow and steady.

Wash your tattoo with soap after removing the bandage, there will be dried ink and blood that needs to be gently washed away.


ALWAYS HANDLE YOUR TATTOO WITH CLEAN HANDS

Once you’ve removed the bandage, wash gently with soap and water removing all plasma and residue with your clean hand. Pat it dry with a paper towel and apply unscented lotion.
You may experience some redness around the tattoo where SecondSkin was applied to the un-tattooed skin. This is also completely normal and may occur with any type of medical adhesive. If you do develop an adverse reaction on the tattoo, discontinue use immediately.
Do not scratch, soak or pick at your tattoo. Tattoo should be fully healed in 3-4 weeks, sometimes more. After healing use sunscreen to protect your ink whenever in the sun. Please don’t forget to come back and let us get a healed photo. Don’t forget to contact us with any questions or concerns.

******DO NOT USE NEOSPORIN OR ANY PETROLEUM BASED PRODUCT******

This is a wonderful product for cuts and scrapes, but not for tattoos. Some can have an allergic reaction to Neosporin which causes little red bumps. When the bumps go away, so does the ink, and you have a polka dotted tattoo! A&D , Auquaphor, Vaseline are ointments and they create a barrier that can trap bacteria and cause an infection. It can also pull out the ink out of your skin by staying too wet and thick, you don’t want a ton of moisture! You may have been advised to use Aquaphor in the past, but even when healing “traditionally” it’s only supposed to be aquaphor for the first 2-3 days before switching to a light lotion, and you will be skipping right over that period by wearing a Second Skin bandage for 3-5 days.

BATHING, SHOWERING, HOT TUBS AND SWIMMING
Yes, you can (and definitely should) shower with a new tattoo. It's OK to get the tattoo wet, just do not soak it. Submerging your tattoo in a bath, hot tub, pool or the like can cause serious damage to your tattoo and possibly cause an infection! Water that you sit in contains bacteria and germs that will enter your body through a new tattoo as it is open skin. Running water is not bad for a tattoo, it just rolls right off, that is why showers are A-OK! These things need to be avoided for at least 4 weeks or until the tattoo is completely healed.

THE UGLY STAGE
Your tattoo may start itching and peeling and looking pretty ugly. All tattoos go through the "ugly stage", it's a part of the natural healing process. It's your body's way of shedding the damaged skin cells and pushing new ones to the top.


Should you have any problems don’t hesitate to reach out!