Why Hand and Finger Tattoos Are Notoriously Hard to Heal (2024)

FAQs

Why are finger tattoos hard to heal? ›

Your fingers & hands tend to be drier than other parts of your body so it's even more important that you keep your skin hydrated to promote healing.

Firstly, the skin on hands and fingers is not as easy to work with as other parts of the body. This is because, thanks to our joints and knuckles, the skin here isn't as smooth as other parts of our body.

Tattoos in areas where your skin is constantly moving or stretching like your neck, wrist, foot, hand, and finger will take longer to heal than most. It's usually no more than a few extra days but try to limit movement around the area as much as possible.

Similar to the feet, the hands and fingers have many bones, tendons, and nerve endings, resulting in increased pain during tattooing. Knuckles can be especially painful! Luckily, the amount of time spent tattooing this area is minimal, so the pain experienced is brief.

Finger tattoos are more prone to fading due to the constant use of hands and exposure to the elements. Touch-ups may be necessary every few years to maintain the tattoo's appearance. Discuss touch-up options and pricing with your tattoo artist, as some may offer discounted or complimentary touch-ups for their work.

Skin around larger tattoos takes longer to recover and certain factors, like picking at the scabs, not moisturizing, forgoing SPF, or using a lotion with alcohol may slow the process.

We would advise against tattooing the side of the fingers, side of the hand and the palm or palmar side, as ink generally comes out a lot quicker in those areas.

While trendy, know that hand and finger tattoos can be quite painful with the thin skin texture and bony nature of these areas. The outer finger or back of your hands will be the most painful regions to get tattooed.

The tissue on your face/hands/feet is so thin it takes skill and practice to "float" the pigment in the perfect spot. Too shallow and pigment will fall out when your skin naturally regenerates, too deep and your tattoo will appear blurred, blobby, or permanently bruised.

Another thing that makes hand tattoos so tricky is the fact that they're frequently exposed to the sun and that's never good. "Ink can immediately begin to fade with UV light exposure," says Dr. Gohara. The best solution to that is to stock up on sunscreen and apply it liberally throughout the day.

What are the cons of hand tattoos? ›

It's important to note that hand tattoos can also have drawbacks. They are often more painful to get than tattoos in other areas, and the healing process can be longer and more challenging.

Tattoos on the hands, fingers, neck, face, and feet will fade. This is because unavoidable things like washing your hands, shampooing your hair, and wearing socks negatively affect tattoos on those body parts. In contrast, tattoos on the legs, arms, back, and shoulders are less exposed and tend to last longer.

We found that 63 percent of people with a tattoo smaller than the palm of their hand regret it. However, only 2 percent of people with full-sleeves or longer, regret their tattoo. Perhaps that's because people with full-sleeves or longer spent more time thinking about it.

The wrist is one of the more painful parts of the lower arm. Although it doesn't come close to the pain of having an elbow tattooed. Fingers, depending where exactly on the finger you get tattooed, are difficult to tattoo, because the skin there is thicker, and moves a lot. So expect blurring.

There is no definitive answer for how long a finger tattoo lasts because too many variables are at play. You're probably thinking, “Yeah, but in general, what can I expect?” Finger tattoos will fade faster than most other tattoos because of how rough we are on our hands.

The skin is more elastic on the fingers. Human hands are full of bones, fat, tendons, ligaments, and joints. Ink tends to behave differently on the hands and could blow out or fade easily. Ink sets into the hands and fingers differently than other sections of skin, causing irregular fading.

There are certain areas of your body where a tattoo will fade faster. Areas of the body tattoos fade most include the hands, feet, elbows, armpit and inside of the arms. The reason is simple: friction.

The sides of your finger, along with the palm, loose a heavy amount of skin cells on a daily basis seeing as they are our main mode of interacting with the world around us, this makes for very poor healing on tattoos.