Tattoo wound care: How the Tattoo Armour Pads support freshly tattooed skin in the cleansing and rebuilding phase

September 30, 2020 Hygiene & Aftercare

The wound care of fresh tattoos and the following care are crucial for the long-term quality of your tattoos. In this blog post we explain how the Tattoo Armour Pads ensure that your customers will enjoy your tattoos for a long time.

What happens in the skin when it is tattooed?

In a tattoo, tattoo ink is applied about 2-3mm into the second layer of skin (dermis). By many small punctures of the tattoo needle is injured both the blood-supplied dermis and the overlying skin layer (epidermis).

Due to the injury, which is inflicted on the skin or body, the human body immediately activates the immune system and begins the complex process of wound healing. This process essentially consists of 2 phases: The cleansing phase and the reconstruction phase.

The cleansing phase of the skin

While the body first begins to close the blood vessels, wound secretion leaks in the area of the tattooed skin. This is a completely normal and important function of the body after tattooing to flush out foreign substances from the bottom to the top. In this cleaning process, among other things, components of the tattoo ink is rinsed out again. Only the water-insoluble pigments, which can not be broken down or removed by the defense cells, remain in the skin.

The duration of the cleaning phase depends strongly on the size of the tattoo, the quality of the tattoo ink and the individual organism. Usually after about 16-24 hours, no more wound secretion emerges and a light crust forms as a natural wound protection. The formation of the crust heralds the reconstruction phase of the skin.

The reconstruction phase of the skin

Next, the punctures in the dermis are replenished. Special cells (fibroblasts) are stimulated to migrate into the wound and form new connective tissue. This results in a temporary closure of the wound by a tissue that appears bright red and slightly transparent. This thin layer of tissue is located below the thin crust and is also called silver skin or shiny skin. Now the formation of elastin and new collagen in the skin is stimulated. This phase is also called "remodeling" and can take up to several months.

The Tattoo Armour Pads. The perfect wound care for fresh tattoos

In order for tattoos to retain as much sharpness and color brilliance as possible even after healing, it requires an optimal course of the cleaning and reconstruction phase.

The following factors are fundamentally important and are optimally promoted by the Tattoo Armour Pads:

The fresh tattoo must be optimally protected from impurities such as bacteria, germs and dirt
The fresh tattoo should be protected from excessive UV light
Excess wound fluids must be continuously removed
The fresh tattoo is not allowed to dry out
The fresh tattoo is not allowed to be closed airtight and needs to be able to "breathe".
The scab or crust formation should start as late as possible and occur as little as possible

The larger the tattoo, the more important it is to take these factors into account in wound care. In addition, it is especially important for detailed tattoos, such as color realistic motifs and black and grey motifs, to support the wound healing optimally. Because the later sharpness and color brilliance of your tattoos are directly dependent on the wound healing.

The Tattoo Armour Pads were developed by the tattoo artists Torsten Malm and Kätlin Malm in cooperation with medical experts. Both very experienced tattoo artists are specialized in color realistic tattoos and have been working for many years to develop an optimal wound care of their tattoos.

The pads are made of a special cellulose tissue, which guarantees an optimal absorption capacity. Ink residues and wound fluids are absorbed, so that excessive drying out is prevented and so that the tattoo does not stick to the pad. Thus the optimal healing of the tattoo is supported. The Tattoo Armour Pad lets fresh tattoos breathe and heal.

In this video Torsten Malm introduces the Tattoo Armour Pads:

During the rebuilding phase, Tattoo Armour Pads help to compensate for excessive creaming of your customers. As an experienced tattoo artist you will surely have experienced this. Customers sometimes tend to apply too much tattoo care, which slightly bloats the skin and delays the healing process.

The application of the Tattoo Armour Pads is super easy and quickly explained. In the following video Torsten Malm shows you how to use the Tattoo Armour Pads in only 30 seconds.