How do you get ink to stay on your skin?

What happens when tattoo ink is injected into your skin? Most of it remains firmly lodged there, but some pigments travel to lymph nodes or even destinations in your body that are farther afield. All the while, you are left sporting a new tattoo.

From elaborate designs and sports team badges to the names of loved ones, tattoos come in all shapes and sizes. Their popularity has increased in the past 20 years, with29 percentof the population of the United States reporting to have at least one tattoo.

But the inks used in tattoos are actually not developed for use in humans.

They are mostly made for other applications, such as the car paint or printing industries. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have, in fact,not approvedany pigments for tattoos, and skin reactions to tattoos are not uncommon.

Although some tattoo inks are known to containcarcinogens, there is no concrete evidence that the chemicals in tattoo ink can cause cancer.

Solid needles are used to deposit ink into the deep layer of the skin. The body recognizes tattoo pigments as foreign particles and tries to clear them from the skin, but the chemistry of the ink used in tattoos makes this process quite difficult for the body. Hence, most of the color stays in the skin.

But why is it necessary to inject the ink so deeply?

Pigments are lodged in the dermis

Thetattoo needlepunctures your skin around 100 times per second, with the aim of depositing the ink in a region of 1.5 to 2 millimeters below the surface of the skin. The reason for this depth of penetration is to bypass the outer layer of the skin, or the epidermis.

This part of the skin constantly renews itself. Every day, thousands of epidermal cells are shed from your skin and replaced with new cells. Ink injected into the superficial skin layer would simply come off within 3 weeks.

In order to give the ink a permanent home in your body, the tattoo needle must travel through the epidermis into the deeper layer, or the dermis. Nerves and blood vessels are located here, which is why getting a tattoo hurts and your skin tends to bleed.

The bleeding is part of the skin’s natural defense against injury. The result is an influx of immune cells to the site of injury.

Macrophages are specialized immune cells, whose job it is to engulf foreign particles and clear them from the tissue. But this process is only partially successful when it comes to tattoo ink.

Some macrophages loaded with ink particles remain in the dermis, while other pigment particles are taken up by the main dermal residents, which are called fibroblasts. Clumps of pigment particles have also been found tostickbetween the dense collagen fibers of the dermis.

Although every new tattoo will display some pigment loss, the majority of the ink will stay in the skin. Astudyin mice reported that 42 days after tattooing, 68 percent of the dye was still located at the injection site.

But where is the rest of the ink?

Colorful lymph nodes, remote destinations

In most cases, macrophages carry the ink particles to the lymph nodes closest to the site of the tattoo. Because the cells cannot break down the particles, they become lodged there. The side effect is that the lymph nodes take on the same color as your tattoo.

There is also some evidence to suggest that tattoo ink particles can travel through the blood and become lodged in the liver.

So, next time you opt for a tattoo, remember that it might not just grace your skin; it may also impart your internal organs with a unique color display.

Hello, everyone!

As a short intro, I started tattooing on fake skin in 2015, kept practicing like that for 5 months, had to stop because of "life problems", and started again last year when I tattooed myself on the side of my ankle using a 7rl. The ink stayed from the first go, the lines were (and still are) decent, I was happy and showing it to friends and relatives, they let me "practice" on them too. Since then (1 year), I've made some good tattoos, but made some mistakes too, that I had to fix after healing.

These mistakes involve ink not staying in skin in 2 cases..
1st - during tattooing: I go slow, machine set at 5.50-6.30 (I change it depending on how thick the skin is), I see the ink flow nice, but for some people, after wipe the ink just doesn't stay in skin with a 9RL, unless i go for 5rl and 7rl
2nd - during healing: had some people lose chunks in 4 days, or little pieces of the lines.

I honestly don't know what I am doing wrong, because for some - the ink stays there from the first go. For others.. they have to come back for me to fill what "fell".

I don't go "too deep" because I'm aware I don't have experience and I want to avoid scarring the skin & blowouts. The people I tattoo are aware of my "level", I tell them that it's possible they might need a retouch, and they are happy with the result because any relative or friend of theirs who sees my work comes to me.

Should I go even slower? Why does ink go away with a wipe when using a 9RL? Does 9RL need more than 6.30?
Is it really normal for ink to "get out" during healing or is it just my fault?

Thank you in advance for any advice!

Edit to add - I use a coil machine, Intenze zuper black ink, Elfin power source.
I don't have this issue with everyone, so I'm guessing it depends on each person's skin & fat tissue, but the fault is definitely in my hand.

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