I was horrified when warts started growing from my tattoo and had to have them burnt off
WHEN mum Jade Harvey went to a tattoo parlour to get an image of a snake inked on her arm, she was happy with the design. She had gotten the tattoo on impulse in June 2020 and had the design curled around her arm. The 20-year-old noticed it had been done near a wart on […]
WHEN mum Jade Harvey went to a tattoo parlour to get an image of a snake inked on her arm, she was happy with the design.
She had gotten the tattoo on impulse in June 2020 and had the design curled around her arm.
The 20-year-old noticed it had been done near a wart on her wrist, but said the tattoo artist, who she paid £113 for the work, had seen it and neither of them had mentioned it to each other.
Months later, on Boxing Day 2020, she started to pee frequently and had sore breasts, so decided to take a pregnancy test.
It was positive and Jade said she was in shock.
She said: “I never actually thought I was going to get pregnant, I didn’t think it could happen.
“I was scared but I told my parents and they were really supportive.”
The pregnancy was going to plan and her bump was growing nicely, but Jade said she started to notice warts growing on the tail of her snake tattoo.
Most read in Health
Jade, who is an assistant at Target said: “I was in the pool and I thought the sun had caused the tattoo to flare up or something.”
The boils continued to grow but as she wasn’t in pain she didn’t think too much of it.
She had also been assured by her midwife that it was nothing to worry about, so left them alone.
She gave birth to her first daughter Ella Spring Harvey on September 2, but even after that the warts still didn’t disappear.
She went to see her doctor who informed her that she should have them removed, using either a cream or by burning them off.
As she was breastfeeding she didn’t want to use the cream, so she opted to have them burnt away using liquid nitrogen then and there.
“It felt like she was torching my skin!” she said. “It felt like a torch was on hand or I was holding dry ice – not fun!”
‘DON’T BE IMPULSIVE’
Unfortunately she had to go back for another session the following month because the lumps refused to go.
She shared her story on TikTok in a cautionary tale that now has nearly 200,000 likes.
Jade said: “Be careful who you go to and where you get a tattoo – avoid places next to warts and don’t be impulsive.”
Warts are harmless growths that are caused by infections.
Medical journals have previously published articles about people having boils after tattoos if they have a HPV (human papillomavirus) infection.
If you do have a wart or acne near where you want a tattoo, you should get this treated by a dermatologist first.
It’s common during pregnancy that you’re skin may change, and you could develop more sensitive skin that you are used to.
Pigmentation can also change during pregnancy due to the production of melanin that increases when exposed to UV light.
