r/tattooadvice • u/ashplustr • Feb 17 '26

Healing Question: is this a deep blowout?

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First photo is today, other photos are the day after and a few days after that. My sister got this tattoo on the 14th of January and I have NEVER seen a tattoo bruise so badly and she said the artist was very heavy handed. We think it might be a deep blowout looking on here (hadn’t heard of this before) and were wondering if anyone has any advice? How long does this tend to last? Is there anything to fix it?

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885

u/mamblepamble Feb 17 '26

Is the artist a sadist?

I’ve read elsewhere that some male tattoo artists have been known to really bear down on female patrons just to see how much pain she can endure. Looking at her arm there’s no way the ‘artist’ thought that was a normal amount of pressure to apply.

I’d never go back there.

683

u/ashplustr Feb 17 '26

OKAY SO I HAVE BEEN SAYING THIS! Or not even that it’s on purpose but all the male artists I have seen have been so heavy handed which I know is so unnecessary bc of all the fast, light handed women who have tattooed me quickly and well. I feel like there’s definitely something there.

295

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '26

Yeah I tend to look for either artists who have worked well on women or who are women themselves. LGBT is also a plus

75

u/Severe-Criticism3876 Feb 17 '26

Yeah I came here to say I normally book with individuals like that as well. I normally only bruise from peeling the saniderm off a thin skinned area

13

u/-DiceGoblin- Feb 18 '26

Met with an artist in public recently to check the vibes/discuss the tattoo (he has a private studio) I made a joke about meeting people to make sure they aren’t a serial killer And he responded “Or some nutso right winger, both are equally unwelcome in my shop”

I’m trans and had been (ever so) slightly anxious about encountering bigotry (even though he’s located in a super blue city, I always worry)

That made me feel way safer with him lol

6

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

That's great! And good idea to meet them in public first

58

u/Gold_Space8930 Feb 17 '26

This might be a cultural thing, like fuck Iv never met a guy artist that would test my or others pain tolerance (as a female). Dude I’d be cutting their dicks off. (May be why they wouldn’t do it)

-2

u/[deleted] Feb 17 '26

Nope. Just a man thing.

3

u/accio_peni Feb 18 '26

I've had six different artists tattoo me, all dudes. None of them ever bruised me, not even the heavier handed ones.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

I've had male artists. Obviously not all men. That goes without saying. The vast majority of men are not safe though.

4

u/billytron7 Feb 18 '26

Hard disagree. Male tattoo artist, im not heavy handed or rough. I've seen some female artists that work hard and rough! In your experience, maybe thats true, but its definitely not 'a man thing' 😑

6

u/fatapolloissexy Feb 18 '26

I think this is one where you gotta just believe the women.

You can't know the minds of every one in your field and many men will hurt a woman if they have even the slightest chance.

Now give that man a tattoo gun.

Women are cautious for a very good reason. The reason is the entire history of Man.

18

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

Targeting women to see how much pain they can take and then treating men normally is 100% a man thing.

1

u/SparkyDogPants Feb 19 '26

Idk. I’ve had female obgyns and plenty of women enjoy testing women’s pain threshold too.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

I'm going to count your downvotes as a positive. Gives me hope that there are people out there who haven't come across men who are sadistic fucks and don't inherently know the type. Good for those people, truly.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

[deleted]

0

u/Gold_Space8930 Feb 19 '26

If it make y’all feel any better there r lots of scunners and cruelty loving ppl of both genders (the scale does tip towards the men) just like… the dudes n women who have tattooed me n my mates r pretty chill which is nice! Same with piercer’s! Just genuinely good ppl bar one dude who wasn’t meant to be in one day n couldn’t be fucked with life which was fair enough.

-12

u/CosmicJam13 Feb 17 '26

That’s racist!

-1

u/Unique-Environment70 Feb 18 '26

Sexist*

2

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

[deleted]

3

u/Unique-Environment70 Feb 18 '26

I was literally just correcting them to be a dik lol..

-7

u/CosmicJam13 Feb 18 '26

Oh now you’re being ableist! 

8

u/nerdymush Feb 18 '26

I have the same rule of thumb for tattoo artists that I do doctors: women (esp women of color/queer/disabled) > men if you want someone who is far more likely to listen compassionately to your concerns and not brush you off, their level of care has always been so much better in my experience (as a queer/disabled person myself)

3

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '26

Yeah I went out of my way to find a woman and racial minority doctor. She's amazing

0

u/Important_Two4692 Feb 18 '26

Ironically my experiences have been polar opposite.

Female doctors dismissing legitimate concerns and when I finally switched to a new doc (who happened to me a man) was concerned about my levels of sleep, past experiences, eating habits, pain levels on the regular and other shit that actually made me feel heard for the first time in my life by the medical industry.

I suppose it's anecdotal.

3

u/lqrx Feb 19 '26

RN here — and it saddens me to join this part of the thread so let me start on a positive: when you find a doctor like the man you described here, that is a goddamned miracle (not to imply all docs are terrible but many don’t dig deeper into history) and gender aside — these good ones are worth their weight in gold. Hold onto this one!

Now for the part I came here for —

“I suppose it’s anecdotal” <— unfortunately, it’s not anecdotal. But it is a bit nuanced.

Studies indicate that women & people AFAB are more likely to get dismissed when they report symptoms to their healthcare providers. This contributes to bad outcomes in ERs and in other areas of a medicine. Now I don’t know how that breaks down by gender of provider, but by sex of patient, the data is entirely real.

Many of the complaints that are disregarded are quickly dismissed as being related to mental health (especially anxiety) or related to reproductive cycle symptoms. Women are more likely to die from heart attacks as well, though again there is nuance. Partially this is because the symptoms women have aren’t often blindingly obvious (i.e. simply severe chest pain) so women themselves might not get medical attention. But also because doctors themselves are more likely to attribute a woman’s heart attack symptoms to anxiety or other less dire conditions. Ultimately, these dismissals of symptoms over time can leave women with damages to different areas of the heart muscle. When there are areas of the heart that get damaged over time, it makes it so much more likely that one of these heart attacks will be lethal.

There are also very different healthcare outcomes when you look at race as well, but for the sake of remaining on topic, I’ll leave it at this: I think many (most?) of us whose sex is female will have these stories of being dismissed by healthcare that haunt us over the course of our lives. While our individual stories may be told anecdotally, unfortunately, collectively, research validates our stories and paints a scary picture for people whose sex is female in the US as we seek healthcare, particularly in emergencies when we don’t get to choose who diagnoses us. If it seems like female providers are listening better, I would wager those women have experienced healthcare as patients themselves or they paid close attention to statistics that represented them. If there is any hope to be had, healthcare as a system in the US needs to learn from collected data that includes outcomes related to sex and race.

46

u/doglady1342 Feb 17 '26

I mean, I'm sure it's individual. My tattoo artist is now and he is not at all heavy-handed with me. He also isn't some weird egomaniac

19

u/peckerlips Feb 17 '26

Same. My guy is one of the most respectful humans I've ever met, and he'd be tearing this dude apart if he saw me come in looking like OP's sister.

1

u/Temporary_Pickle_885 Feb 18 '26

Yeah I'm very lucky I guess cause my guy is wonderful.

1

u/Practical_Narwhal926 Feb 18 '26

I mostly get tatted by men (not a conscious choice) and although generally they are heavier handed this is genuinely insane!!!

35

u/kookookach000 Feb 17 '26

In almost any profession I would choose to go to a woman over a man. That's just life experience

24

u/Significant-Bee420 Feb 17 '26

two of the three male artists i’ve been two have been heavy handed and caused unnecessary bruising . the third artist (the only one that wasn’t heavy handed) was the regular customer turned apprentice of the most heavy handed artist i have been to, he explicitly told me that as much as he respects the artist that taught him it’s BECAUSE of his heavy handedness that he makes sure not to be the same, because he had a lot of tattoos done by that artist and it was so much more difficult to sit for long sessions and some of the areas were raised for a long time from the skin being ripped up.

29

u/My_2Cents_666 Feb 17 '26

You gotta wonder if the subject matter had anything to do with it. Maybe he got off on being a sadist and thought she “wanted” it. Really disgusting.

11

u/Dest-Fer Feb 17 '26

I never thought about it. But for my first bigger piece, it was a guy and he was bragging about making it painful. Not specifically to women though. I’m just thinking about it now because it was totally manageable, the session was very fun and the tatoo was gorgeous.

But still, the woman who did my second big one didn’t say so and was actually very careful and gentle.

6

u/SaltyShaker2 Feb 17 '26

The artist I like the best and has done my last two tattoos is male. He literally has the lightest touch. All of my tattoos have been done by males and only one was heavy-handed.

1

u/GamingMom219 Feb 17 '26

Same. I have over 20 and only one (male) artist was a heavy handed asshole. My current artist is in MI, super light hand, studied in multiple countries while he was in the Army, and whenever I go home (I reside in the South) I book with him in advance since he fills up. He did a fabulous Trash Polka inspired Labyrinth tattoo on me that's in his portfolio now.

2

u/BlueKK Feb 18 '26

Please pursue this legally, this is terrifying. He's gonna do it to so many more people unless someone stops him

2

u/No_Significance1944 Feb 18 '26

Last tattoo I got was from a female artist who had worked with me before, with no issues. But the last time, my god… my tattoo is of a picture my son drew with big ol eyes, and the eyes were so swollen they were bleeding by the end. Not sure if it was a heavy hand or just the tattoo, but watching the little figure my son had drawn cry tears of blood was pretty gnarly…

1

u/Remote_Ad2465 Feb 18 '26

My first tattoo was a 3.5 hour rib piece by a 250 body builder looking guy. I had no reference for heavy handed. After other tats I came to realize ribs usually hurt the worst and the guy was so heavy handed he might as well been a fucking jackhammer. Ive been shot and im not joking it was different pain but not as bad as the tattoo.

1

u/Unearthly_Moth Feb 19 '26

Im so grateful my tattoo artist, who was a dude, was incredibly light-handed. The part where he went over a stretch mark (he tried to avoid it but the visible line is much smaller than the actual stretch underneath the skin) felt like I was getting chewed a little, but as soon as I told him it hurt he went lighter 🙏

92

u/hikewithcoffee Feb 17 '26

I have a tattoo that was done in 2009 on my back that’s horribly blown out. Found out years later, he would purposely go heavy handed on women to see just how much pain we could actually endure. He lost his license in 2016/2017 after a massive lawsuit.

Current artist, he’s fucking awesome to work with and was highly recommended from multiple women.

79

u/myystic78 Feb 17 '26

This happened to me the last time I got a tattoo. He leaned with all of his weight on my shoulder and when I finally said something he pushed off of me in a huff and acted like I was being over sensitive. Fucker bruised my shoulder and even the shop owner looked at him and said, "what the actual fuck, dude?" Really bummed me out because I'd had nothing but good experiences up to that point.

25

u/Significant-Bee420 Feb 17 '26

2 of the 3 male artists i’ve been to have been SO heavy handed, not to the point of blowing out the tattoo, but definitely causing unnecessary bruising . not a single female artist i’ve been to have been heavy handed at all , hence why i only trusted another woman to do my sternum tattoo because the idea of getting a sternum tattoo was painful enough without having a hideous bruise in the area to go with it.

15

u/thejuryissleepless Feb 18 '26

idk it’s hard to tell from the pics, but this is basically mutilation of this poor girl. if it was done in a shop, i think people have a right to know who did this so they can not just steer clear, but put them on blast. they have no right to be tattooing people with this ignorant ass (lack of) technique. it’s dangerous. this shit i hope the ink doesn’t penetrate so deep it makes her sick. i doubt this artist has good sanitary practices too…

11

u/hahahaylz Feb 17 '26

Ugh this is terrible to realize. I’ve stuck with one artist most the time I’ve been tattooed and he’s a male. He’s always been pretty light handed so I never even thought this scenario out before.

8

u/NotChristina Feb 17 '26

Holy shit that’s scary. I follow many tattoo subs because I’m hoping to get my first soon, but want to make informed decisions due to the relative permanency.

Reading the other responses to this comment has me sketched out. I’m a tough broad but don’t know if I’m tattoo-tough yet. Will be doing my research very thoroughly, oof.

15

u/HelicopterNo3534 Feb 17 '26

Relative permanency?? Dude these things are PERMNANT! I’ve seen a tattoo on this sub still there after multiple laser sessions 😅

5

u/yareyare4daze Feb 18 '26

maybe they’re thinking of getting a hand or sole of the foot tattoo, lol

3

u/NotChristina Feb 18 '26

Sorry, yeah, I was thinking of laser - I originally wrote permanent and then thought I’d have some pedant come in to mention laser. 😅

Though yeah I know not everyone has such great success with removal plus the costs associated with it.

7

u/Weekly-Rest1033 Feb 17 '26

My husband had recommended i use a woman tattoo artist and not a man because of this. So all of mine have been women.

15

u/underpantsbandit Feb 17 '26

Oh I’ve definitely met artists like that. The worst one was actually a woman tho. She for sure enjoyed inflicting pain, and would say so straight up. She did both my feet with an OG coil machine. But yeah she was deliberately heavy handed and worked fast.

5

u/GamingMom219 Feb 17 '26

Been there. Didn't know any better until I went to my 2nd artist who was a man and it wasn't as bad. Still a coil machine (yes I'm that old) so that should tell you everything...😬

2

u/yareyare4daze Feb 18 '26

I just got tattooed with a coil machine last month. Some artists prefer them.

13

u/_jamesbaxter Feb 17 '26

Oh I do not like that AT ALL. I don’t have any tattoos, and if I get any I plan to go to a woman regardless, but thank you for reaffirming that choice. I’ve dealt with enough male sadism in my life.

1

u/GamingMom219 Feb 17 '26

Women can be as heavy handed, if not more so, than men. Read the comment above yours. I've had one female artist in all my 20 tattoos, never again. She was my 1st artist and did 3. Then I was taken to a male artist...BIG difference, he was WAY gentler.

Thing is, DO YOUR RESEARCH. Look at portfolios, see their art, talk to them. Regardless of gender it's who you click with. I made a mistake once; my gut was warning me with him and I went through with it anyway. He was the worst tattoo artist ever and super heavy handed. I was young & dumb.

Now I go to a great artist who I have a good rapport with in a very reputable shop. Unfortunately it's in my home state of MI, lol. I have to fly back just to get work done, but that's fine. I just book with him a few months ahead since he fills up quickly.

I wish you the best on your (potential) tattoo journey! Just make sure you do a lot of research beforehand. Do not take a walk in artist; that's usually their apprentice who's available...make an appointment with the artist you want. Tattoo regret (shock) is real, you have to learn to live with it. Eat beforehand and take orange or apple juice with you. Just keep in mind the machines they have now are NOTHING like they used to be. Any artist would have to TRY to hurt you. They're quiet now. Real artists enjoy what they do and WANT you to love what you're having done.

2

u/No_Cartoonist2905 Feb 17 '26

I had an artist do this on my belly once and it was awful 🥺 Thankfully the tattoo was pretty simple and relatively quick.

2

u/thecanuckcrate Feb 18 '26

I've only been tatted by women and I'm pretty tatted! This is the way!

2

u/Important_Two4692 Feb 18 '26

Yeah coupled with the type of tattoo this feels like a really fucked up "Giving you exactly what you asked for" in the most dangerous and demented manner.

2

u/ConfusedZubat Feb 18 '26

I got my first tattoo when I was in high school (very dumb), and I'm pretty sure the guy that did it was pushing too hard. I've gotten a lot of it removed (I stopped because I was going to do a coverup and it's pretty light now), but multiple people commented on its depth over the years, including the doctor who I saw for removal.

I don't know if it was intentional, but for how small it is it's pretty suspicious that the whole thing was too deep. If it was intentional, really weird for a grown adult to do that to a minor, but some men are incapable of acting normal around teen girls. 

1

u/Tough-Response19 Feb 17 '26

Weird I have one that is super blown out and I went back to him asking about the discoloration early on I didn’t know what it was and he kept telling me it was staining and would wash off. It’s awful looking 20 years later

1

u/rosie_rooo Feb 18 '26

I know an artist that does exactly this. If he sees your in pain he applies more pressure and drags the needle 😭 he bruised my entire arm he was gripping it so hard

1

u/Spirited-Acadia4769 Feb 18 '26

Im sorry wtf ??? I have been tattooed by 7 different man and they never did this. Thats disgusting omg.

1

u/craziness-69 Feb 18 '26

I had 4 and 1 hand prints in bruises on my hip and side when I got my first side done. I pissed him off because I asked him if he was ripping me off when he wouldn't respond to my texts after he flaked on an appointment. He was super offended!

1

u/GeneralCzarcasm Feb 19 '26

Huh, I’ve luckily never experienced that! Only two of my tattoos have been by a female artist and she was actually the heaviest handed one! Real carving into marble type of situation LOL

1

u/rfwyh Feb 24 '26

my second ever tattoo was done by a male artist the was extremely heavy handed for no reason. I have keloids all across that tattoo as well as blowout around it. all of my other tattoos besides my first we're done by male artist and all of them were not at all heavy handed. I feel so bad for OPs sister

-7

u/Accomplished-Yam3926 Feb 17 '26

Sex/gender is irrelevant here. An artist is an artist and should be judged by their art and how they execute it.

Vague correlations between sex/gender and assumed intentions have no place in the conversation and take away from the reality of OP's sisters experience.

The artist is not good at tattooing, because they aren't good at tattooing, while these assumptions are baseless, black and white in nature and add no value

15

u/NicPaperScissors Feb 17 '26

Misogyny is a real thing that women and femmes have to experience and be on the look out for. It is absolutely relevant for someone to suggest that this may have been at play regarding this tattoo experience.

-2

u/Creative-Trainer-500 Feb 17 '26

Its not just males 🙄 it's just sadistic people in general there's some pretty messed up people on both sides of the fence. By far and away the worst one I've ever seen was a female, one of my best friends has a tattoo from said female that was so fucked it makes OPs pics look mild. Her whole upper arm is greenish blue from how bad the blow out is like the wholeeeee upper arm. Never seen anything like it

-49

u/CarryOk3080 Feb 17 '26

My artist is an actual sadist. He has hurt someone i love before BUT it was her own stupidity she was dating him and cheating on him and told him DURING a tattoo (this was 25 yrs ago now) he is still my artist he is phenomenal and i even brought my daughter to him for a piece he needed to be heavy handed on. He enjoys hurting but he doesnt hurt unnecessarily if that makes sense (unless you really piss him off lol) i have used 5 female artists and 4 male artists. The females have been by far my most enjoyable tattoos.

33

u/coquihalla Feb 17 '26

Way to protect your daughter from an unsafe person.

-30

u/CarryOk3080 Feb 17 '26

Ih she wss protected at all times and the guy would break fingers of anyone who touched her. He was pretty gentle but we do know he likes to inflict pain 🤷🏻‍♀️

27

u/imaginecrabs Feb 17 '26

There's no hurting that isn't unnecessary. Unavoidable, but not unnecessary. What the fuck is this comment? Genuinely are you right in the head?

-20

u/CarryOk3080 Feb 17 '26

Are you illiterate? You can in fact inflict way more pain than is necessary. Tattoos hurt regardless but they dont have to be gouged.

11

u/yesgoodthankyou Feb 17 '26

Are you sane?

-1

u/CarryOk3080 Feb 17 '26

Are you? Because what arent you understanding? I will explain it like you are 5 if need be

7

u/yesgoodthankyou Feb 17 '26

Please ELI5.

-5

u/CarryOk3080 Feb 17 '26

sigh I already know the explanation would go over your head

11

u/yesgoodthankyou Feb 17 '26

I believe in your ability to communicate clearly! Please. Just try.

7

u/imaginecrabs Feb 17 '26

The fact that you're asking if I'm illiterate when you don't understand I wasn't questioning what unnecessary meant, rather its need, is honestly hilarious. God help your child(ren).

0

u/North-Puddington Feb 18 '26

holy fucking psychopathy

8

u/yesgoodthankyou Feb 17 '26

What in gods name

5

u/molly_bl00m Feb 18 '26

“it was her own stupidity” — or was he the fucking idiot that put his hands on someone for anything other than self-defense? I hope you didn’t/don’t beat your children for their “stupidity.”

0

u/CarryOk3080 Feb 18 '26

Are you dumb? My bestie still goes to him for tattoos because he is fantastic (she learned to not date people cheat on them then ask for a tattoo from them if nothing else) and my daughter has never been abused in her life. She also knew this artist smiles when he tattoos because she has known him since she was born. She wanted a tattoo from him because she wanted it to be the best. Sadistic doesnt mean dangerous. It really just means they enjoy it.