As you've all read by now...last Thursday I got my first tattoo. I have been applying A+D Ointment (baby diaper rash gel/paste) to it per Joost's orders several times a day. Now, normally this would not be a big deal except I committed a cardinal sin of a person with allergies....I did not check the label!
The past few days I have had a rash spread all over my wrist and this morning when I woke up, it was literally starting to encroach on my tattoo...I started to worry more. We thought it was the adhesive on the tape I was using to loosely hold down a sterile gauze pad over it at night. (You really aren't supposed to cover tattoos, but have you ever tested A+D? It is greasy and messy and difficult to wash off!) I've had issues with adhesives from bandaids and athletic tape before, but even after not sticking it to my skin, I was still developing the rash.
This morning I had an epiphany while I was washing my hair in the shower...haha...kinda funny how you think of things at weird times like that. So, after I got out of the shower I picked up the ointment tube to read the ingredients....right there at the top of the list (the main two are listed bigger than anything else with the percentage of item)....LANOLIN. Ugh. There's my culprit!
Now for those of you who know me well....know that our family has bred & raised sheep for several years. Where does lanolin come from? Sheep's wool. hahahaha Okay, I found out about my lanolin allergy several years before we started raising sheep, but it was never really that bad. I just stopped using lotions with lanolin. Easy enough. When I worked with the sheep, I had to shower right after (or hose myself off in the barnyard..haha) to avoid getting itchy and having splotchy rashes all over my arms and legs.
You would think after all these years, I would know better than to use a new product on my skin without checking the label. Even when Mary Kay comes out with a new lotion, I check the ingredients list. I guess I thought that because it wasn't a lotion, but rather a gel-like paste, that it wouldn't hurt me. THINK AGAIN. :(
The first picture is how my arm looked this morning on my way to CVS to pick up another Joost approved item to put on my tattoo. It was pretty gross!
The second picture is how my arm looks tonight after using only Lubriderm 100% Fragrance-Dye-and Lanolin- Free lotion. :) I am quite pleased!
Now if only I'd thought of this 2 days ago....hahaha...*sigh* Lesson learned.
I'm glad your arm is better! That stinks! But it's good it cleared up so fast!!
ReplyDeleteI have epiphanies in the shower all the time! I think about very random things in there for sure!
haha...I think the shower is the place I'm not bothered. Toby can't bug me, mom isn't home, it's just quiet time. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it's better too! It's looking even better now than before. :) :) I should have sent you a pic and said "HELP!" haha
Thank you so much for this. I spent an hour online trying to figure out what was wrong with my arm. I came across your picture. That's exactly what my arm looked like around my tattoo. This was my first tattoo. Low and behold the lotion I was using had lanolin in it. I went to Walmart in the middle of the night to get some lubriderm. You're a lifesaver. Hopefully it clears up soon. Mine was worse off than yours.
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