Medical tattoos give comfort to breast cancer survivors
Such tattoos re-create nipples and areolas lost with mastectomies.
Bobbie Jean Joiner pushed the paper vest from her shoulders and looked at her breasts in a full-length mirror.
The vest was stamped with outlines of pink ribbons, the international symbol of breast cancer. That was appropriate because the 56-year-old Joiner is a breast cancer survivor who had a double mastectomy in 2010. And for the first time in a long time, she liked what she saw when she looked in the mirror: an image of who she was before losing her breasts. Joiner was moved to tears. “Amazing,” she said. “It looks like I really got nipples, don’t it?”
On Monday, the East Milton resident completed another step in her arduous, seven-year battle with the disease. Now cancer-free, Joiner visited a Pensacola permanent makeup clinic to replace what the disease took from her. The medical tattoos re-created the nipples and areolas lost with the mastectomy.
Called areola repigmentation, the process restores the appearance of an areola using a digital machine that sends a colored pigment into the skin with a needle at a rate of 150 times a second.
The specific technique and coloring allow the areola and nipple to appear to be raised or 3-D, giving them a more natural appearance, according to Trinkette Parker, a micropigmentation specialist who has been performing areola repigmentation for 20 years.
A Pace resident and trained cosmetologist, Parker became interested in areola repigmentation after her sister, Piper, died of breast cancer at age 38 in 1996.
Since then, Parker said she has performed approximately 800 to 1,000 areola repigmentations, averaging about 40 to 50 a year.
“It’s that finishing touch to look complete,” Parker said. “To look like a woman again. This room has seen a lot of tears.”
Joiner added herself to that list recently, tearing up a few times before Parker even began the nearly two-hour procedure.
“It brings all of the memories back,” Joiner said. “It’s not an easy journey.”
The National Cancer Institute estimated there will be more than 250,000 new female breast cancer cases diagnosed in 2017. The NCI estimates 40,610 will die from the disease this year.
“With a mastectomy, they remove the tissue, and what’s left is usually a mess, and they’ve been through hell,” Parker said.
According to the National Cancer Institute, there is type of mastectomy that preserves a woman’s own nipple and areola. A nipple-sparing mastectomy might be an option for some women depending on the size and location of the cancer and the shape and size of the breasts.
Parker no longer charges for areola repigmentation, a procedure that may be covered by insurance but can cost $500 to $1,500 without insurance, depending on if a client has one or two breasts done. The high cost is one reason Joiner said she waited so long to have it done.
Parker said she’s at a place in her career where she doesn’t have to charge for areola repigmentations, and she wanted to help other women in memory of her sister who also had a mastectomy.
“I was getting into permanent makeup at that time, and I wanted to get into the medical part of it,” Parker said. “They deserve this. What’s a couple of hours of my time?”