Nipple tattoos - Vinnie or my plastic surgeon?

orangeflower
orangeflower Member Posts: 146
edited June 2021 in Breast Reconstruction

Hi guys. I'm at the point where it's time to look into nipple tattoos. I always assumed I would be going to Vinnie Myers or someone on his team. Today I had my one-year follow up with my plastic surgeon, and she told me that she has started doing nipple tattoos in her office. She didn't have any pictures of her work, and I'm not sure how many she's done. The pros of going to her are that it gets billed to my insurance for sure, so it would be cheaper, and I don't have to travel. The pros of seeing Vinnie or his staff is that they have a lot of experience and an established reputation for nipple tattoos. I believe he provides information so you can try to get reimbursed by insurance, but I'm not sure my insurance company would pay for any of it because he's not a medical provider. It would almost certainly be more expensive overall because of travel costs. I'm willing to pay more to get the best result, it would just be nice if I didn't have to.

Is there anything I should ask my plastic surgeon to help me make this decision? Any advice on what I should do?

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Comments

  • DiveCat
    DiveCat Member Posts: 968
    edited June 2021

    I would ask if she could show photos of her work, and yes, find out exactly her training (or if someone else does it, their training) and a good idea of how much they have done.

    I’d want to make sure the ones in her office were comparable to Vinnie in that they are 3D style tattoos (assuming you don’t have any nipples right now).

    I am actually going for a second round of nipple tattoos tomorrow at my PS office (a tattooist goes in a couple times a month to do them, someone who has also done training in medical tattoos - not just nipples but also scar covering etc and got into it after her own cancer diagnosis/recovery, though not BC) but I kept my nipples so for me it is more about restoring colour I lost to them, and some trompe l’oeil to even them out a bit so 3D aspect wasn’t really required.

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  • ShetlandPony
    ShetlandPony Member Posts: 4,924
    edited June 2021

    I probably should not comment as I do not have personal experience with this, but for starters I would ask:

    Why don't you have photos to show me? How many have you done? Who trained you? What are your goals with this, how do you expect it to look?

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  • orangeflower
    orangeflower Member Posts: 146
    edited June 2021

    Good idea, Pony. It's the plastic surgeon herself who would do the tattoos, and they're 3D. They said they don't have pics because my doctor just recently started offering this service, and they don't have consent from the other patients to show pictures. I'm having her fix a huge surgical scar on my abdomen next month, and they said they should have pics then. My surgeon did a good job on my reconstruction, I just think I want someone with a lot of experience doing these tattoos. I have a very agreeable personality and didn't grill her or want to hurt her feelings by going to someone else. I feel like I could see the hurt on her face when I said I was considering Vinnie. I don't like it when I make other people sad. That sounds crazy, I know! I'll make the decision based on my own best interests.

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  • ShetlandPony
    ShetlandPony Member Posts: 4,924
    edited June 2021

    No, I understand. You care how she feels. Let her know how much you appreciate her skill for your reconstruction. But do seek your best choice for the tattoos as you will live with the results.

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  • SummerAngel
    SummerAngel Member Posts: 1,006
    edited June 2021

    I agree with ShetlandPony. You will be living with these tattoos, and good ones can make a huge difference. At a minimum I would ask for photos, and more than just a few. You don't want to be someone she's training on.

    I did nipple reconstruction and went to Vinnie. I didn't even attempt to get a reimbursement, to me having breasts that looked as close to "normal" as possible was extremely important. I've shown them to a couple of people I'm close to and they're amazed at how real they look. I believe having this quality of reconstruction helped me move on and accept my fake breasts more quickly. That's just my experience, though.

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  • VegGal
    VegGal Member Posts: 507
    edited June 2021

    It is not always a good idea to be “one of the first ones" of a procedure any medical professional does. I have also read that “medical ink" in tattoos does not have the longevity that the ink tattoo artists use does, necessitating more frequent touch ups.

    You know what you will get with Vinnie.

    Are cheap nipples really a bargain?

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  • orangeflower
    orangeflower Member Posts: 146
    edited June 2021

    Haha, you are right VegGal! I just needed the validation I think.

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