Imagine going through extensive surgeries on one of your most sensitive parts of the body with endless hours of chemotherapy and the uncertainty of whether you’ll live to see the next day.
You trudge through the never-ending battles of surgeries, and doctor’s appointments and finally when you survive, you think this is the end, thinking to yourself “I have survived the worst.” Instead you are left with scars, bruises, and indents of your battle. Left with psychological trauma, you feel like a part of you is gone, showcasing ugly scars on one of the most precious, treasured parts of your body that significantly shapes your identity, that says, this is who you are.
These are the feelings of what breast cancer survivors go through.
The American Cancer Society estimate
- About 252,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women.
- About 63,410 new cases of carcinoma in situ (CIS) will be diagnosed (CIS is noninvasive and is the earliest form of breast cancer)
and
- About 40,610 women will die from breast cancer
However according to cancer.net,
“The average 5-year survival rate for people with breast cancer is 90%. The average 10-year survival rate is 83%. If the cancer is located only in the breast, the 5-year relative survival rate of people with breast cancer is 99%.”
Moreover, recently the power of tattooing has been transforming these survivors’ feelings of trauma into triumphs. Mastectomy tattoos alter breast cancer survivors’ breasts into works of art, even using 3D tattooing to illustrate what they have lost.
Either through artistic renditions of the battle won, or 3D tattooing in nipples, these survivors are warriors showcasing their victories.
This is how tattoos can change a life for the better. Many of the tattoos replace the lost nipple either something realistic or something dramatic. The realistic design, literally illustrate nipples onto breasts. Survivors do this to at least physically have a look of nipples on their breasts, wanting to have the feeling of normalcy again. Those who wish to get this done go to tattoo artists specializing in realism, where they carefully plan the position of where the nipple used to be.
A lot of the time the dramatic designs are symbolic images like butterflies, flowers, or anything nature based, having a transformative element. However, like any other tattoos, the designs are up to the client and is a complete collaboration between the tattoo artist and client. Depending on the complexity and scale of the art, a mastectomy tattoo can cost anywhere between $200 and $2000.
Mastectomy tattoos have been growing in the past few years through the spread of social media. It is a positive force amongst survivors, as support from different parts of the community increase. Check out this interview from a mastectomy tattoo artist, answering any basic questions.
https://community.breastcancer.org/blog/vinnie-myers-3-d-nipple-tattoo-a…
We applaud these strong women for turning their trauma to art.