Tattoo You
Medical micropigmentation can hide unsightly scars and change lives
When her 14-yearold daughter Kelly asked for a tattoo for her birthday, Susan was happy to oblige. In fact, she rushed to the computer and started researching. She had been waiting for that request ever since the day Kelly had been born with a cleft lip.
When Kelly was born “we weren’t really told much,” recalls Susan (both names have been changed to protect their privacy).
“I was in shock, devastated, overwhelmed and confused.”
After two surgeries, one at seven months and the other when Kelly was three, her plastic surgeons declared that “it was a beautiful job” and there was no more they could do. Although Kelly was never teased at school and was always met with friendliness and kindness by strangers, she still felt uncomfortable about the scar that ran across her lip.
“Imagine being a Grade 8 girl and thinking that you were never going to have a boyfriend or that you might be limited in your career because you were not confident about the way you looked. It’s a fact of life that we live our lives today in pictures, especially through social media,” says Susan. “I was glad that I could help her find a medical tattoo practitioner in Calgary. The difference in her attitude is like night and day. She is happy and uplifted. I’d like to let other parents know how much this simple procedure has changed her life.”
Changing people’s lives is all in a day’s work for Jody Stoski a medical tattoo specialist at Cinnamon Girl Clinic. One of only a hand- ful of certified professionals in Canada, she helps more than 1,000 clients a year, both men and women, with scars from accidents, burns or surgery and hair loss due to alopecia or cancer treatments.
Medical tattooing, also called micropigmentation, is often combined with a process called “needling” that stimulates collagen and helps old scars heal. Then a neutral palette of colours is applied using more traditional tattoo techniques to gently restore the skin’s original tones.
Micropigmentation can be used to restore the look of a natural areola or nipple after breast reconstruction or, the case of skin grafts that are “too perfect” to match the surrounding skin, Stoski creates imitation moles and freckles. Unlike tattoos that are distinctive body art and made to catch the eye, Stoski’s work is successful when no one can tell that a tattoo has been applied.
“I love what I do because it’s so rewarding to give people their dignity back,” Stoski says.
“It’s a great gift to give. A lot of people spend a great deal of time, money and effort on makeup, concealers and cosmetic bandages or they struggle with it and then give up. They would be amazed at what can be done to take a problem away or make it more manageable.”
“My job is to provide the finishing touches after surgery and bring the final result as close to perfection as possible,” Stoski says.
She stresses that it’s much more than a cosmetic fix. Through her work with Compassionate Beauty, a spa and resource centre for women undergoing cancer treatments, she knows that being “a picture of health” is not just a cliché. For many patients undergoing cancer treatments, looking well may give them the extra boost they need to go out for groceries or make it to an exercise class. Feeling confident about their appearance has a direct effect on people’s health, both mental and physical.
Gwyn Amat, a 24-year veteran of the Calgary Police Service Threat Assessment unit and a Compassionate Beauty brow client, can vouch for that. The beautiful, funny 51-year-old is undergoing treatment for cancer, and is up front with the benefits that her new eyebrows have given her.
“I always secretly wanted a tattoo,” she says “I just didn’t think I would start on my face! The people at Compassionate Beauty made me feel great. Losing my long blond hair was a major loss for me. It was my crowning glory. But they helped me through the process and now, with my new eyebrows and wigs, I have completely changed my perspective. When I go in for chemotherapy, I dress up. I wear makeup and earrings, the whole thing, and it helps me feel better.”
A team player by nature, (her volleyball team has played at the World Masters Games and the U.S. Open Nationals), she has a dedicated group of close friends she calls her A-Team that includes her Calgary Police Service co-workers, her volleyball teammates, the oncologists, nurses and assistants from the Tom Baker Cancer Centre and the volunteers, yoga and fitness instructors for cancer patients at Wellspring Calgary.
But she is concerned about people who don’t have the support that she does. “What I would say for people who are looking for a way to help friends and family who are going through cancer treatments is — don’t send flowers. Get them a gift card toward new eyebrows or a spa treatment at Compassionate Beauty. It will get them out and back into the world and it might just change their lives.”
As for Kelly, her one-hour treatment has made such a difference that Susan calls the experience “a gift from God.”
Recently the 5-foot 11inch tall teenager with beautiful eyes was approached by a modelling agency to see if she were interested in a career in fashion. When Susan asked if Kelly’s tiny irregularity would be a deterrent, she was told not to worry. It looked so natural that it could become her trademark.