Mastectomy tattoos?

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sunshinegal
sunshinegal Member Posts: 209
edited June 2014 in DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ)

Have any of you who have had mastectomies gotten (or considered getting) any kind of artistic tattoos? I'm not talking about tattooed nipples, but like what p.ink does:

http://www.pinterest.com/personalink/

I don't have any tattoos and have never really been tempted to get one before, but I find myself strangely drawn to the idea. My scarred chest that has virtually no feeling left feels ugly and foreign. This feels like it could be a way to "reclaim" this part of my body.

What do others think?

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  • coraleliz
    coraleliz Member Posts: 1,523
    edited May 2014

    I never considered tatoos until my BMX. I even started drawing different possibilities. Friends who have tatoos begged to go with me if I had it done. I didn't get inked for 2 reasons.First I have mild truncal edema. I'm thin & my ribs are more prominent on one side & I'm a little puffy on that side under the armpit. The second reason is advice I got from one of my tatooed friends. She said she thinks about a particular tatoo for 1 year & if she still wants it after a year she gets it. I thought about it pretty seriously for about 6 months & then forgot about it. Reconstruction was a fleeting thought when I was 1st diagnosed. I actually considered tatooing for 6 months!

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  • Ariom
    Ariom Member Posts: 6,197
    edited May 2014

    Hi Sunshinegal, I too, wanted to have a tattoo on my chest. I spoke to a number of Tattoo Artists and found that there was quite a disparity in opinions about the length of time you should wait to actually do it after a Mx. One said 2 years, another, 5 years and then there was the fear of possible  LE as well.

    Although there are pictures all over the internet with women who have had beautiful "Ink" on their flat Mx chests, I just filed it into the "too hard basket" for the time being.  I have a tattoo on my hip and cannot tell a lie, it hurt a lot more than I expected it to. I am numb on my chest, but I don't know if it would actually make a tattoo, pain free!

    I am sure there will be someone along to give you more insight. There used to be a lovely girl on these boards who is a Tattoo Artist, but I haven't seen her around for a while.  

    I wish you all the best and hope you can find the information you need to help you decide if it is right for you.

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  • sunshinegal
    sunshinegal Member Posts: 209
    edited May 2014

    Thanks, ladies. :) It certainly seems like wise advice to deliberate for a long time and consult widely. As it is, I would be a long ways away from actually getting it done, as I'm going to eventually get a prophy MX on my other side, but I'm pregnant right now and plan to breastfeed for a year (I pulled it off with kiddo #1!). I probably wouldn't do any tattooing until everything is done. But this is very interesting food for thought - first time in my life that a tattoo has seemed appealing!

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