The tattoos that boost breast cancer survivors’ confidence
Health correspondent Mark Smith speaks to three women who have survived breast cancer about how tattoos have helped them regain their confidence
MORE people than ever before are surviving breast cancer. Pioneering research, better screening and greater awareness of symptoms have led to survival rates doubling in the UK in the past 40 years.
While this is a cause for celebration, many women are still left with the physical and emotional scars of treatment.
Women who have more advanced breast cancer are left with no choice but to have one or both breasts removed. Many others need chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which can lead to loss of hair, eyebrows and even eyelashes.
A drop in body confidence can have a devastating impact on women – as well as men – long after the tumours have disappeared.
In a bid to combat this, more cancer survivors are turning to cosmetic tattooists to bring a sense of normality back into their lives.
Advances in technology have allowed these trained professionals to recreate eyebrows and lashes with cosmetic semi-permanent makeup.
They can even replicate the areola for women who have lost the tissue during breast reconstruction surgery.
Eira Rowlands, 55, from Caerphilly
Mum Eira said her breast cancer diagnosis came as no surprise because of the long history of the disease in her family.
“I felt a lump in my neck and under my armpit,” she said.
“I went to my GP and was initially given antibiotics for suspected swollen glands, but when the lump failed to go from my armpit I went for a mammogram which confirmed it was breast cancer.
“I had expected it for quite some time as I’d seen so many members of my family pass away from it.”
She then underwent a double mastectomy and breast reconstruction at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant.
While the NHS recreated her nipples from skin elsewhere in the body, she thought she’d permanently lost her areolas.
She said having the areolas cosmetically tattooed on to her was the confidence boost she desperately needed.
“When my husband said they looked even better than before, that was the best endorsement for me,” she joked. “It felt like the final part of my journey – like I’d made it out the other end.” Elaine Nicholas, 61, from Barry When Elaine was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 49, she admitted it was incredibly tough to take.
With no history of the disease in her family, the news came as a huge shock.
“I had a lump under my arm, but nothing in my breast. I just noticed it was a different shape.
“I was referred to the breast clinic at the University Hospital of Wales. When they told me it was cancer, I was devastated – I just thought I was going to die.”
Doctors told Elaine that the cancer was at stage three – the secondworst – as it had spread to her lymph nodes.
“I have two boys, one of whom was in the middle of his degree when I was told I had cancer,” she added.
“I think, being boys, it was quite difficult. They felt like they had to hold their feelings in a bit.
“I didn’t want to tell my mum. When my sister told her, she said she wished it was her with the cancer.
“From that moment on something kicked inside me. I knew I couldn’t make it go away so I just became really positive.”
As a result of the chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Elaine lost her eyebrows and eyelashes. She also underwent breast reconstruction on the NHS, which involved taking muscle and skin from her back.
But the crowning moment came when she had her nipples and areolas tattooed last year, followed by her eyebrows.
“It’s given me much more confidence. I can go to the swimming pool and change without any worries.
“When you go through something like that, you have a greater appreciation for life. It’s like you’ve been given a second chance.”
Since being given the all-clear, Elaine has raised more than £50,000 for Breast Cancer Care. She’s travelled to Cuba and Iceland and is now set to embark on a trek up Ben Nevis in Scotland in aid of the charity.
Carrie Ann Harper, 40, from Llanelli
Carrie’s daughters were just two and four years old when she spotted a “cocktail sausage-shaped” lump while swimming.
She was then given the diagnosis every woman dreads and needed a double mastectomy to stop the spread of the disease.
“I just told my children that mammy’s boobs needed to be cut off because they were nasty,” she said.
“I had three failed implant operations, which all sunk into my chest, then I learnt about a ‘tram flap’ operation after watching the TV show Embarrassing Bodies.”
A tram flap involves moving skin, fat, blood vessels, and muscle from the lower abdomen and then reconstructing them to form breasts.
“The NHS were fantastic, but I still had no nipple or areolas.”
She said having her nipples and areolas tattooed made her “feel like a woman again”.
“It was the last piece of the jigsaw to feel normal again.”
All three women were given the cosmetic tattoos by Rachel Kennedy, 34, from Cardiff.
She became a cosmetic and paramedical tattooist after seeing the devastating impact of breast cancer on a close friend.
“I cut and shaped a wig for her. Then one day she knocked on the door and her eyebrows and eyelashes had gone. She was absolutely devastated.
“Losing her hair on her head had been difficult and we dealt with it. But when her eyelashes and eyebrows disappeared, it was like her facial expression was gone and she felt she had lost her identity.”
Rachel said at this point she felt a little bit helpless but really wanted to do something to help and support her friend.
“I did some research and there were very few people offering help, so eventually I found somewhere to train. Initially I thought I could do some paramedical training straight away, but there was a lot more to it than that – I was a little bit naive.
“But I started my training, did the cosmetic side of things and the medical side of things and that was how we began. Something good has come out of something really sad.”
After training in London and Milton Keynes, she set up her own semipermanent cosmetics business.
As well as helping more than 50 breast cancer patients, she has also used her talents to help people with burns and skin conditions.
“Losing part of your breast can obviously have an emotional impact and make you question your identity as a woman. For me, it’s important to restore that confidence,” said Rachel, who now operates in Brecon and Aberdare as well as the Welsh capital.
“Had my friend not had breast cancer then I would never have discovered this. It was not something I had thought about doing.
“I didn’t even know it existed. It was only when she was in the predicament of having it done and there were so few people doing this treatment in our area.
“The NHS have a huge waiting list, so it’s nice to be offering a service that helps so many people deal with their confidence.”
Rachel said everybody’s skin tone is very different so she works to colour-match exactly to suit them.
She uses a semi-permanent tattoo which fades very slowly over time, softening in appearance.
“For women who have lost all of the areola and even then the nipple, I try to recreate that with colouring and shading. As the colouring fades gently over time, what we tend to do is an annual colour restoration, perhaps 12 to 18 months later.”