If you visit a professional, licensed tattoo parlor to perform your tattoo, the chances of your tattoo experiencing a large amount of ink loss is reduced in comparison to allowing a non-professional to tattoo you. During a consultation a professional tattoo artist will explain to you the stages your tattoo will go through while healing. The tattoo artist will also discuss how to prevent fading or losing the ink in your tattoo.
Improper Procedure
If a tattoo artist or non-professional performs the tattoo procedure improperly, your body can push the ink out of the tattoo. During a tattoo the tattoo artist uses a sterile needle, inserted into ink, to place the ink in the dermis, according to Katherine L. Krcmarik of Michigan State University. The dermis is underneath the epidermis, which is the top layer of the skin. If the tattoo artist inserts the ink too shallow into your body part being tattooed and the ink only reaches the epidermis, the ink will fade or disappear completely. As your skin begins to heal from the tattoo, the ink will disappear due to the skin cells of the epidermis sloughing off while the body replaces the skin with new cells.
Improper Aftercare
Caring for your tattoo during and after the healing process ensures that the colors, shading and outline of the tattoo will not fade or have ink missing from the design. Upon completion of your tattoo procedure, your tattoo artist will provide you with instructions for taking care of your tattoo. Using harsh products, such as hydrogen peroxide or products with petroleum can draw the ink out of your tattoo while the tattoo is healing. Only follow the advice of your tattoo artist. Although friends and family may mean well when they offer advice on tattoo care, do not take the chance that your tattoo could lose ink from improper aftercare.
Healing
During the healing process, the tattoo will form scabs or start to peel on your outer layer of skin. This is normal. The scabs will have a minimal amount of ink inside and may look tinged with the color of the ink. Picking or pulling the peeling or scabbing skin can result in ink loss and you will have to pay a tattoo artist to add the color back into the tattoo once the tattoo heals. Keeping your tattoo moist with an aftercare product can prevent large scabs and lessen peeling skin during the healing process of your tattoo.
Sun Exposure
Applying sunscreen to your tattoo is a commitment to take seriously once your tattoo heals. Not applying sunscreen to your tattoo will cause your tattoo to fade by your body sending more immune cells to the dermis to repair your skin after sunburn, according to the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The cells sent to the site of the tattoo and sunburn work to remove the damage, such as when your skin peels while healing sunburn, and the ink in your tattoo is a foreign object that the cells will try to remove or repair.
Immune System
Over time ink can fade or come out of your tattoo because your immune system is absorbing the ink and breaking up the pigment, according to an article by Tara S. Kerpelman of Northwestern University. Your immune system, after breaking up the pigment in your tattoo, carries the ink to the lymph nodes which completely remove the ink from your body. This process is similar to laser tattoo removal yet your immune system performs this task naturally and over a long length of time. Not every person's immune system will perform this process.
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