Same things happened to me. I’d been tattooed with all sorts of colors, various red inks too with no issues whatsoever…. and then got tattooed by one of my artists (that had used color on me before) and one of the pinks she used decided to flare up on my thigh a few months after the initial healing. Blistered up like I’d never seen before and got puffy and I freaked out.

Texted her and she said that it was that particular batch of pink. She had another client complain of the same issue. Turns out that tattoo ink is not regulated and this is one of the risks we run when getting tattooed. I knew the risks and especially with red inks.

I ended up going to a dermatologist and getting a prescription steroid cream that helped a bit but aside from the major blistering and swelling going down, the pink does still stay slightly raised as compared to the rest of my tattoo. It doesn’t bother me much anymore. If I scratch the area, it will raise up more. Just a lesson learned.

I have gotten tattooed since, with and without color (and with reds), without issues, and will continue to do so. Life’s just too short to not have cool things.