Nipple Tattooing Explained & Tips on How to Choose Your Artist.
Nipple Tattooing Explained & Tips on How to Choose Your Artist.
I specialize in restorative tattooing of the breast. Restorative, in the sense of giving back a version of what was once taken away. Specifically, the majority of my work is
tattooing of the nipple areola complex as the finishing touch to a breast reconstruction. It needs to be the very last step of your breast reconstruction, ideally with no additional surgeries planned in the immediate future. It is a medical tattoo with an aesthetic touch. I call it the grande finale!
Medical tattooing for the breast can be used in the following:
🌸 In breast reconstruction patients after a mastectomy, to recreate a natural and realistic appearing nipple areola complex. This can be done over a nipple reconstruction or without, on flat skin, using a 3D tattooing technique. Areola restoration can be used on nipple-sparing masectomies where the native areola has been attempted to be preserved.
🌸 After other breast procedures, such as breast reduction, mastopexy surgeries or top surgeries, where the pigment has been lost or to achieve areola symmetry.
🌸 Tattooing can restore absent areola pigmentation for treatment of vitiligo on the nipple-areola complex.
🌸 Tattooing can also be chosen as a cosmetic elective procedure purely per client preferences due to desiring a darker areola. Another aesthetic option is to change the areola into a fun shape like a heart.
Specific to breast reconstruction, after your surgeon has rebuilt your breast, the tattoo is done to restore a feminine appearance to the breast. As stated before, it should be the final step...the grand finale of the reconstruction process.
If you chose to have a nipple reconstruction procedure, the color is applied to the nipple and surrounding skin to create natural looking areola.
If you chose to avoid additional surgery or have found your previously created nipple has flattened out and is no longer dimensional, then a 3D tattoo is a great option. This type of tattoo is essentially a portrait tattoo of a nipple. It requires a 3 dimensional illusion to be created on a 2 dimensional surface. With specialized training, the artist can create a realistic, natural looking nipple and areola using light and shadow techniques.
No matter what the case, I use high quality tattoo ink and body art tattoo equipment to ensure a beautiful result that lasts.
You may remember hearing during your breast reconstruction consultation that
the goal of your plastic surgeon is to make you appear "normal " in clothes and your bathing suit. As a plastic surgery nurse, I've heard this said hundreds of times by physicians. The goal of nipple tattooing however, is to help you feel good looking at yourself OUT of clothing. So, that glimpse in the mirror after a shower isn't a constant reminder of what you've been through. Also, the nipple tattoos help soften and detract from asymmetries that may be present between the two breasts and many times help pull the eye away from scars you feel are unsightly.
This is a big responsibility for the artist 🎨 and that's why choosing the right one is so important!
So, how do you choose your artist? Where do you start?
1. First off, look at their photos 📷! Especially HEALED PHOTOS. These should be taken several weeks to months after the tattooing. It is impossible to tell much at all by looking at a fresh and red tattoo. I love showing my gallery of pictures to clients, which includes the before/pre- tattoo, freshly done and healed examples. Every artist has a different style. Healed photos will tell you so much! My galleries can be found here: https://www.livingstorytattoo.com/types-of-breast-tattoos
2. Ask about their training and experience level. How long have you been offering this service professionally?
How many nipple tattoos have you personally done?
Do you have physicians that trust and refer to you to care for their patients? How many years of experience with traditional tattooing or permanent makeup machine work did you have on healthy skin before training for nipple areola tattooing? The following questions are critical to ask in the case of using a newer, less experienced artist.
Who did you train with for nipple tattooing?
How long was your training? Was your training a 2 day class? How many models did you work on? Or was it totally online/zoom with no hands on at all? (This became very common during covid). Your artist may have a certificate on their wall without ever actually having tattooed a live person's breast before.
(Remember body tattoo artists do apprenticeships that are many months long before they're deemed ready to apply permanent art to someone's skin. )
3. Ask about equipment and inks. Do you use (semi-)permanent makeup pigment or tattoo ink? What brands? Do you use a permanent makeup (pmu) digital machine or body art tattoo machines? Many pmu machines are low powered and ineffective at implanting pigment. In the hands of an untrained technician, this can lead to depth issues, specifically being too heavy handed and also the artist making too many passes on the skin. These machines typically take cartridges containing very small needles, tightly configured. Using these to cover an areola surface area can lead to overworking fragile tissue. These combined can lead to scar formation and tissue damage which is amplified each time a touch up is done and sometimes it leaves tissue un-tattooable, un-fixable. This can be devastating emotionally. I know this from my past experience of tattooing as a nurse in a physician office setting for close to a decade. The same techniques, equipment & ink are pretty standard among MD offices and some pmu settings. My blog explains this further: https://www.thenipplefairy.net/blog/damage-to-the-skin-and-deep-within
4. How many touch ups do you estimate I will need?
The answer should not be frequent touch ups as required by use of semi-permanent pigment. I personally do a two step approach to restorative tattooing. The 1st sitting establishes the NAC and lets the artist learn your skin. This is important especially with thin skin, if your reconstruction is mixed of different types of skin flaps and/or if the skin was radiated. The 2nd sitting allows to even out or adjust color tone and saturation and an opportunity to add more realistic details and refinement. This 2 step method takes pressure off the artist to feel the tattoo needs to be completed in just one sitting, which in turn allows the artist to respect the skin and tattoo safely. All tattoos can fade over the years, requiring a touch up later on,( depending on the dilution of ink used, uv/ sun exposure, radiation and other factors) but a properly executed nipple tattoo will look beautiful for quite some time. This fragile skin simply cannot handle frequent touch ups.
5. TALK to past clients. Your artist should have a list of clients for you speak with. Read reviews of client experiences online. Mine can be found here : https://www.livingstorytattoo.com/stories
6. Who does your physician recommend in the community? If they suggest you come to their office, do they employ or bring in an experienced, professional artist? The research on the artist is the same whether they are employed by the physician office or work at an outside facility.
Take the time to find a good fit with your artist. You deserve to have all your questions answered in terms you understand. Get educated and make your choice... this maybe the one time that 100% of the choice is yours during the reconstruction process. You don't have to settle for a poorly done nipple tattoo or a cookie cutter, assembly line nipple tattoo…remember, slightly better than a bullseye or pepperoni does not mean great. You deserve great!
💞 Perhaps most important of all, make sure whomever you choose to do your work, that it's in their heart ❤ You will be able to tell. I am very passionate and protective of my work, as should be any artist who does restorative tattooing. It is truly a privilege for me and I'm grateful to do it everyday.
Much love,
The Nipple Fairy 🧚♀️
Also posted on Blogger April 9, 2021- revised 6/26/22 http://livingstorytattoo.blogspot.com/2021/04/nipple-tattooing-explained-tips-on-how.html