How To Treat An Infected Tattoo? (Without Doctor At Home)[2024]

A mild infection on your new tattoo can ruin your whole tattoo and tattooed skin area. An infected tattoo can look like a red cracked tattoo or a red inflamed rash. Maybe you can feel its pain. If you sense tattoo infection signs, treat your infected tattoo immediately if you know how to treat an infected tattoo.

In case, you don’t know “how to treat an infected tattoo?”, we have shared simple steps to remove the tattoo infection at home in this article. Our team worked hard to give this to the point yet important information. Also, we have shared tattoo infection signs and how you can prevent tattoo infections in the future.



Tattoo Infection – How Many People Get Tattoo Infection And Why?

Having tattoos on our bodies is very common nowadays. We found that more than 50% of people in European countries have tattoos. Almost every workplace and job allowed showing tattoos. In simple words, it was not allowed to show your tattoo in some countries and workplaces a few years ago.

Therefore, you may think tattoos are entirely safe when seeing everybody with a tattoo. Yes, having tattoos is safe. Also, you can get tattoos without feeling any pain with the use of the best tattoo numbing creams. But in minor cases, people destroy their tattooed skin when they don’t care for them during tattoo healing.

Remember, your tattoo needs time to heal properly. It can take 4 to 6 six weeks, depending on the size and complexity of the tattoo design. If you follow your tattoo artist’s instructions, the tattoo will heal soon without any tattoo cracking or infection.



Tattoo Infection Signs

When your tattoo gets infected, you will know it with the help of these tattoo infection signs:

  1. The tattooed skin area starts irritating.
  2. Red rashes and swelling on the tattoo.
  3. Pus is coming out of the tattooed skin area.
  4. Red streaking from the tattooed skin area.
  5. Fever.
  6. Irregular shivering.
  7. Tides of heat and cold.

How To Treat An Infected Tattoo



How To Treat An Infected Tattoo At Home?

Treat your mild tattoo infection before it gets more harmful. If you consulted with your tattoo and received instructions with some medicines. Then, do what your doctor told you to remove the tattoo infection.

On the other hand, you want to treat your mild tattoo infection without a doctor at home. We have found a few steps, which are given below:

  1. Wash your tattoo with the best tattoo soap and clean it with a paper towel. Repeat this step two times a day. Never use something other than warm water to wash the tattoo. Some immature people use alcohol or hydrogen peroxide, which is not good. Because both these liquids can slow the tattoo healing process.
  2. Use petroleum jelly on the tattoo and wrap it with second skin or saniderm bandage.
  3. Take anti-inflammatory and pain-killing pills to remove bulges and discomfort. For example, Naproxen and Advil.
  4. Wrap the ice with a thin cloth and put it on the infected tattoo for 10 to 15 minutes. Take a break of 5 minutes and do this process 3 times a day to remove inflammation.
  5. You can use aloe vera directly on the infected tattoo as it boosts the skin healing procedure. But don’t rub aloe vera on the tattoo.
  6. We know wrapping the new tattoo keeps dust and bacteria away from the tattoo. But whenever you remove a tattoo bandage for any purpose, like washing the tattoo or applying any ointment, let your tattooed skin breathe for some time.
  7. Wear only loose clothes for some time until the tattoo heals completely. Also, keep your tattoo safe from direct sunlight.





Minor tattoo infection is easy to treat at home. Gentle cleaning and a few antibacterial ointments or medicines are enough to remove an infection from your new tattoo.

However, treating some tattoo infections takes time and requires a doctor’s help if specific bacteria cause the infection. Multiple types of bacteria can cause multiple types of tattoo infections. Also, some tattoo infections are not removed with antibiotics as they become immune.

So, if you cannot reduce tattoo infection at home, don’t hesitate to see a doctor. We advise you to follow the tattoo aftercare instructions your tattooist gives to avoid getting a tattoo infection.



How To Prevent Tattoo Infection?

When you book your tattoo session from a tattoo shop, make sure you take care of the following important things:

  1. The tattoo artist is a registered professional artist with a license for running a tattoo shop.
  2. Your tattoo artist uses sterilized equipment for tattooing.
  3. You are not allergic to any ingredient of tattoo ink your tattoo artist will use for your tattoo.
  4. Wrap your new tattoo with second skin or saniderm bandage to keep your tattoo safe from exposure to bacteria and infection.
  5. Note down tattoo aftercare instructions from your tattoo artist and follow them properly.
  6. Use only tattoo soap for washing your skin area and clean it with a paper towel.
  7. Do not scratch or rub on dry skin.
  8. Use Vaseline or ointment instead of regular lotion on the new tattoo to keep it hydrated.

How To Prevent Tattoo Infection



Our team has tried to explain everything in simple words to help you more. We hope you know how to treat an infected tattoo without a doctor at home. If you found this article helpful, share it with others to help them.

You can ask us further questions if you have any. We are always here to answer your queries. For more informational tattoo articles, check new posts in the blog section. Moreover, our tattoo artist team has shared biased reviews on multiple tattoo products. Don’t forget to get benefits from them.
Stay Blessed!

Chloe Arthur

Chloe Arthur

Hi, I’m Chloe, a passionate tattoo artist who has been creating stunning tattoos since 2013. Through my blog posts, I aim to provide valuable information and tips on tattoo styles, aftercare, and everything you need to know about getting and maintaining beautiful tattoos.

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