Sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disease that can affect the skin and other organs, sometimes first appears with bumps at the site of a tattoo, she says. Infections are more common within the first couple of days or weeks of getting a tattoo, Dr.

Tattoo blowouts occur when a tattoo artist presses too hard when applying ink to the skin. The ink is sent below the top layers of skin where tattoos belong. Below the skin's surface, the ink spreads out in a layer of fat. This creates the blurring associated with a tattoo blowout.

When a person gets tattooed, the ink is deposited via tiny punctures under the top layer of the skin, explained anthropologist Christopher Lynn. As a result, the body views a tattoo as a wound and sends out macrophages, or white blood cells, to heal the area.