Paramedical Tattoo Ink FAQ

Paramedical tattoo ink is pigment used in corrective tattooing, such as scar camouflage, stretch mark camouflage and areola restoration. It's mostly skin tone shades, and the ink chemistry matters even more than in decorative work, because the color has to match living skin and stay that way as it heals and ages.

Iron-oxide-heavy skin tone inks without proper copper neutralizers can oxidize in the skin and turn orange, rusty, muddy brown or gray-green. Organic pigments like azos and quinacridones, plus copper-based pigments, balanced with titanium dioxide and mixing solution, give cleaner, more stable results. See good vs. bad results.

Some do, and we tell you. Every Ink Wise Sheet flags iron oxide and carbon black at the top. For skin tone work we look for carbon black under 3%, and any ink that contains iron oxide is flagged so you can plan how to neutralize it.

A CI (Colour Index) number identifies the exact pigment in an ink, like CI 77891 for titanium dioxide or CI 77491 for red iron oxide. Reading CI numbers lets you compare inks across brands. See our CI cheat sheet.

It's a one-page breakdown of an ink, built from the manufacturer's Safety Data Sheet (SDS). It lists every pigment by CI number, whether each one is organic or inorganic, the pigment load, the carrier ingredients, whether the ink contains iron oxide or carbon black, and any allergy notes. You'll find one in the photos of every product.

The Fourmula is a four-ink set (Snow White Mixing, Lemon Yellow, Blossom and Imperial Violet) for mixing any skin tone from Fitzpatrick I to VI with no black. Every box includes a printed mixing guide. Read the guide.

For white (hypopigmented) scars and stretch marks, start with a skin tone ink set or The Fourmula, and use the Ink Recipe Builder to get a starting mix from a photo of your client's skin. For dark (hyperpigmented) scars, The Dark Scar Collection brings together five inks for color-correcting and softening darker scar tissue.

No. Ink Wise is a reseller, so bottles carry their original brand labels. Our job is choosing the right inks and explaining their chemistry clearly.

Yes. US shipping is a flat $8.95 and free on orders over $200. Canada is $24.95 and the rest of the world is $39.95, with free international shipping on orders over $400.

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