A mother-of-five has warned tattoo seekers to check their artist’s credentials beforehand, after a botched job almost cost her part of her leg.
Kirsty Griffiths paid £130 for a floral design on her right ankle while on holiday in Türkiye last month.
But within 48 hours, the 34-year-old woman developed life-threatening cellulitis that spread to her stomach and gallbladder.
Cellulitis is a bacterial infection that affects the deep layers of the skin and can spread to other areas of the body.
It requires urgent antibiotics and, if left untreated, can infect multiple areas of the body and eventually lead to fatal sepsis.
Doctors struggled to keep Ms Griffiths’ infection under control and reportedly told her that if the situation continued they might have to amputate her foot.
“Two different surgeons came to visit me and one said if this is not cleared up, maybe they would have to amputate my foot,” he said.
“I was crying and screaming every night in pain. It was one morphine drip after another and I could still feel the pain through the painkillers.’
Kirsty Griffiths, 34, from Liverpool, suffered life-threatening infectious cellulitis after a tattoo went wrong.
Fortunately, the infection finally cleared up after about four days in the hospital.
“Fortunately, the antibiotics started to work,” he said. “Now my tattoo looks all scabby, scabby and black. It itches a lot and is still very painful.’
Griffiths said he still walks with a limp and has to take paracetamol every four hours to relieve the pain.
“I can’t sleep through the night (right now) because I’m in so much pain and I can’t put any weight on it.”
She believes the infection was caused because the tattoo artist inserted the needle too deeply.
Recalling her decision to get body art, she said, “I already had a rose on my ankle, but I didn’t like it, so she made a bigger, better rose to cover it.”
‘(At the appointment, the tattoo artist) did the outlining first. But when I was about to finish that part I started to feel dizzy and like I was going to faint.
“I told him I wasn’t feeling well and got up.
Griffiths said he was confident in the tattoo parlor he chose because it was located inside a hotel.
Cellulitis is a bacterial infection that penetrates the deeper layers of the skin. Without prompt intervention, it can spread to organs and cause fatal sepsis.
“I couldn’t see anything and I vomited. He (the tattoo artist) said it was because of my blood sugar levels and at that moment I thought it might be.
‘I have never experienced this before in my life. At first the pain was fine but it started to become more painful.
‘It was the kind of pain that made you feel bad. I couldn’t stand it so I asked him to stop so I could breathe.
“I didn’t realize I was putting the needle in too far and causing the pain.
‘It looked really good when he first did it and I didn’t think anything about it. I thought it must be painful because it was on my ankle.’
Griffiths said she took her children to a Halloween party that night and “didn’t think about it,” until the next morning, when she woke up to find her leg was “twice the size of the other one.”
“It was bright red and looked like I had blisters on my tattoo. tThere was fluid behind it, which was the infection.’
He flew home from Türkiye and suffered “excruciating pain” on the return flight.
Griffiths said she has been left with itchy scabs that have formed over the ink.
‘I had to put my foot up on the back of the chair because it was swelling. It was the worst four hours of my life.
Shortly after returning to the UK, she was rushed to Whiston Hospital in Prescot, Merseyside, where tests confirmed cellulitis.
“I feel stupid because normally when I go to Türkiye I always go to people I know to get tattoos and it was always fine,” Ms Griffiths said.
“I didn’t investigate or check this person’s background because I thought he was safe.”
Now he warns other tourists about the dangers of getting a tattoo abroad.
‘I would say to those thinking about getting a tattoo abroad, that they should do their research and find the person they have chosen to do the job.
‘I wonder how many other people have been left like this. It has discouraged me from getting tattoos.
When journalists contacted the tattoo studio, they claimed Ms Griffiths was wearing socks after the appointment, which led to the infection.
A representative said: ‘We have a camera in the workshop and all the tools are clean and sterilized. He wasn’t feeling well when he first got the tattoo and I asked him many times if he was feeling okay.’