Tattoos (not medical)

Anonymous

Tattoos (not medical)

Lorri70

has anyone had a tattoo to mark the cancer journey? I'm thinking of getting something meaningful done on my hip stomach or foot maybe, I'm not sure where or of what , I'm thinking of the pink ribbon and something written on itI can see it but it's not on show all the time, I'm 46 have no tattoos, I will also need medical tattoo in the next few months.

OrcaPorkka

I have considered it from time to time. Now that my reconstruction is done, I am looking first to get some nipples done. I will consider more after that. There are some beautiful examples out there

Dafne

I am thinking about it too.

When all is over (my recon journey) I really want to have something done, probably on my forearm or inside my wrist. It's gonna be a small red fox, 'cause it's meaningful to me in a special way. I just don't know how much time has to pass in order to be safe to have a tattoo done. Do you have any idea about it?

Tappermom383

I have a giraffe on my left ankle - they are my favorite animal. My daughter took me to get it done when she was a freshman in college; the people at the shop got a big kick out of that. My sister-in-law has a beautiful bracelet of ivy leaves on her wrist. I had wanted to get that done on my right wrist (wear my watch on my left) but guess I can't now. If we're not supposed to even have our blood pressure taken on the surgery arm, I can't imagine it's OK to get a tattoo. But I do have a right ankle! Not to steal your fox, Dafne, but the fox represents my 1-year-old grandson Felix. Hmmm - I'll have to think about that.

MJ

brooklynne

I got a tattoo instead of the aureola tattoo and nipple platic surgery post mastectomy and reconstruction. It took a long time to find a tattoo artist that I liked. I looked on instagram, pinterest, etc. and I finally found a guy from New Zealand who travels for work. I luckily had a trip planned to Barcelona and he was going to be working there at the same time, so I scheduled it and got it done.

He did an amazing job of doing a deconstructed Japanese design of chrysanthemums positioned just so it covered the round scar on the breast.

It really did help me see that part of my body in a different way and felt a little like a form of closure. I didn't realize how much of a difference it made in terms of how I saw my breast and the scars. I now am thinking of getting one to cover my abdominal scar from the DIEP recon.

Falconer

Brooklynne- thanks for sharing. Any chance you'd PM me a photo? I'm one week post DIEP and already dreaming of the art I can make of these scars.

LAstar

I'm too wimpy to get tattoos but I wear my scars like badges of honor. My only suggestion is to go through an entire October of breast cancer awareness before you decide. It didn't take many Octobers for me to get really tired of pink ribbons. That said, if it speaks to you, go for it!

Also, this tattoo artist in Seattle does amazing work on scar cover-ups and also mastectomy shields to make us all feel like the superheroes we are! https://www.madamelazongastattoo.com/scar-cover-up...