A 31-year-old unidentified man got a tattoo of a crucifix and praying hands on his right calf, and then decided to go swimming five days after getting his new skin art. He suffered from chills, fever, and a rash close to the tattoo afterward.
The man contracted flesh-eating bacteria or Vibrio vulnificus, known to lurk in seawater and raw oysters and causes up to 100 deaths in the United States every year.
The question now: are there dangers to swimming after getting a new tattoo?
Can You Swim In Pools And The Sea After Getting Inked?
It’s crucial to look after your new tattoo as best as you can particularly during its healing period, advised Authority Tattoo in a blog post. It considers swimming after getting a tattoo a bad idea, explaining that the skin area is essentially a totally open wound without any protection against harmful germs and bacteria.
What this means is staying out of any body of water, except for showers and hand-cleaning of the tattoo.
“Before your tattoo has completely healed, it’s prone to a magnitude of different types of infections caused by millions of different kinds of bacteria, many of which originate from water,” the blog post warned.
While the water itself may be clean, its surrounding areas could be suspect, including changing rooms, towels, and sunbeds.
There’s the chlorine factor, too. As the most common disinfecting chemical in indoor and outdoor pools, chlorine acts as an enemy to new tattoos and should be avoided during initial healing phase.
The chemical can irritate the tattoo and make it very dry and flaky, as well as lead to itching and a host of other problems such as rashes and red bumps.
Even swimming in the sea isn’t a great idea, as the water harbors millions of bacteria and particularly contains sea salt, which will dry the tattooed area out and irritate skin. Around the world, many sewer systems drain out into this body of water.
Just as bad is swimming in lakes and rivers, which may be clear on the surface but also likely play host to fish excrement, rat urine or fecal matter, and other surprises that could impede or affect tattoo healing.
Proper Tattoo Aftercare
Perform appropriate tattoo care for a minimum of three weeks before you swim in any type of water. This period of time allows proper skin recovery and the closing of wound.
Wait until the tattoo is done scabbing and peeling before you take a dip, which means the process is largely individual and could take longer than three weeks.
Here are other safe tattoo practices:
1. Observe your tattoo, where rash and redness are normal reactions but more serious ones like chills and fever demand antibiotic treatment or medical attention.
2. Inform a doctor before an MRI, as some tattoos get a burning sensation during the diagnostic test. These reactions, though, are rare and merely temporary.
3. Keep your tattoo clean at all times. Treat the body art the way you would treat any usual wound, or with utmost safety and care.
The message isn’t really that people should avoid getting tattoos.
"It's if you choose to get a tattoo, do it safely, do it through a licensed place, and make sure you take care of the wound and treat it like any other wound," said Dr. Nicholas Hendren, lead author of the report recalling the man’s case. "That's important."
