Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire This is why you shouldn't get tattoos....

Wonder how often that happens?

I'm not a squeamish person, but that was disgusting!

Having lanced many an abscess on bovine critters, them things just don't smell very good. Can't think this was any better.

yuck...

Had a fellow cop get one on his upper arm. It got infected... His skull and Harley tattoo ended up looking like a 3 year old with finger paint had slapped his arm after it healed. Kinda melted.

Never knew what he did to fix it.

Yuck is right.

looks like the person lost 20lbs just in pus.

First, why in the hell do people waste money on that crap when there are firearms and vehicles to purchase and tweak?
Second, is he dumb or numb to let something like that go that long?

Nasty!

I've cut into stuff like that when I worked at Iowa Beef. The stink is unforgettable!

That one is life threatening. Really bad.

That's a HUGE abscess! I've never drained one that big in my career. To tell the truth, incision & drainage of abscesses is one of the most fun things I get to do in ER. Yeah, I'm a sick bastidge, but I'm a HAPPY sick bastidge!!

The doc in this video made a very large incision, which tells me that this abscess was probably in excess of 500 mL in volume, possibly close to a liter. The abscess will have to be packed and repacked to keep it from closing and reinfecting. Assuming this is a healthy person, s/he will be going back to the clinic for a repack every 2-3 days for 2-3 months. Not a happy camper, I'm sure.

In my experience, only about 10-15% of abscesses grow the kind of bugs that make a lot of stink (E. coli, Bacteroides, and other anaerobes). Most of them are caused by aerobic skin bacteria such as Staphylococcus, and are odorless.But the ones that DO stink are horrible. And like Forrest Gump would say, until you cut into the thing, you never know what you're gonna get...

I've seen a LOT of infected tattoos, although almost all are simple cellulitis (infection of the skin and immediate subcutaneous fat) that clear up with antibiotics. Very few develop into abscesses.

The big risk now with tats is that we're seeing a lot more tattoo infections from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). MRSA is not only hard to kill with conventional antibiotics, it can permanently colonize the skin, nostrils, etc, and may reappear as a life-threatening infection later. MRSA is a huge threat to critically ill people in hospitals and nursing homes.

MRSA

BTDT

Ain't fun.

thats why it matters where and who you get them from.....my work has been done by a buddy who tends to be an obsessive neat freak and not some dingy back alley shop.....will say out of all the nasty chit ive waded into with cuts on my legs the only couple of cuts ive had that have gotten a real infection were from things around my house .....cleaning out the damp A-coil on my central air lead to a nasty infection that took a bit to kill....course i also wouldnt let chit get to the level of that video before i head to the doc but so far ive not had anything i havent been able to kill off myself with diligent care....

but real!

Give a guy a warning would ya!

So DocRocket,

Why did the doc in the video press down on the abscess, soaking it up with gauze or paper, instead of using a vacuum like device?

I imagine a vacuum device would keep everything from running all over the place, and (if it stank) keep the smell down.

World class I & D there. When ya drain em folks love you. Instant success.

OT,

I did a canine space I&D yesterday, but it was nothing. The one in that video is unreal.

Impossible to get up to that volume in a mouth, but it IS right where people live.

;-{>8

Hey, I thought you were still Red Striping it.

Never had that...but did have a softball size abscess adjacent to my poop chute up inside about 6 inches. The pain was unlike anything I ever experienced before. I tried to tough it out but finally could not stand, sit, lay, sh�t, piss, breathe, or anything else without pain that dropped me to my knees...yeah, waited too long as I thought it would subside. Went to express care affiliated with local hospital...wouldn't touch me...sent me to main ER. CT scan and off to emergency surgery...dope wasn't even touching the pain by this point. Doc promised when I wake up that it will be night and day with the pain. SOB was correct! I woke up with zero pain, mucho pain meds and antibiotics and a drain tube stitched about 1.5 inches to the side of puckered brown eye. 10-14 days of wearing that near my ass but man what a relief! It continued to drain for some while during the time the tube was in. Did not hurt when extracted and it had a perforated bulb on the interior end to keep pocket from closing in on itself.

Never want that again. No clue how and no advice on how to avoid...just happens he said. The dude took more than half a liter of stuff out...I have broken bones, been stitched, concussed, dislocated, etc, etc...but this was the top dawg on the pain scale. He did say it was lucky it hadn't ruptured as that can be a true life threatening emergency.

Sonofabitch!