3D tattoo vs. nipple reconstruction or both

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af2021
af2021 Member Posts: 6
edited June 2022 in Breast Reconstruction

I see that someone posted a similar question on a different forum without a lot of responses. I thought I'd post here too. I've had my bilateral mastectomy and implant reconstruction and am now at the point where I have to decide between nipple reconstruction, 3D tattoo or both.( I have decided to do something, not just leaving them with nothing.)

If you've had any of these procedures and have some thoughts, I'd welcome any information!

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  • JanetM
    JanetM Member Posts: 336
    edited June 2022

    I am at that point as well. I am leaning more to doing the 3D tattoo since it won't involve another surgery.

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  • af2021
    af2021 Member Posts: 6
    edited June 2022

    I agree that avoiding another surgery can certainly play a role in the decision. I am going to have fat grafting to hopefully help a little with the "shelf" above the implants. They would do the nipples at the same time, so for me it's not an additional surgery. If it was, that would definitely push me toward the tattoo. Plus, for this year anyway, my insurance would pay for the reconstruction. While it's not an additional surgery, it's still more involved than just fat grafting -- taking skin from somewhere else, probably my stomach, and doing skin grafting, etc. I just don't know if it's worth it. I wish you excellent results with whatever you choose!

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited June 2022

    Ive got this coming up in September and Ive been almost 100% on the tattoo side since the reconstruction. Something about moving more skin around and fashioning a bit of a nipple just seems weird to me, especially as it will always be 'on'. I had a reduction 20+ years ago so my other nipple really doesn't do much of anything anyway and is almost always flat, so to have one headlight as it were, just wouldn't look right. The breasts are the least of my problems, so lets get this over with the fastest and least amount of potential issues.

    Then again, the 3D aspect of the tattoo kinda blows my mind too!

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  • BCat34
    BCat34 Member Posts: 17
    edited June 2022

    I had my left side nipple reconstruction after mastectomy and delayed implant surgery with expanders in February 2016, and I'm still really happy with the results. I don't find that it's always 'on' now and has really flattened out over the last 6 years. I had some tattooing on it afterwards at my surgeon's office, and that part has faded a bit since and could use a touch up now. In a t-shirt, no bra, you can see both the natural and reconstructed nipple silhouettes and it looks right. It never gets as 'on' as the normal right/natural non breast cancer side nipple now that it's flattened and TBH I was worried as I have tinier nipples and never breastfed. For me, I found it really changed my perception of my 7" scar, putting something back there. And, looking down at it looks right. I agree, the 3D looks awesome and I would love to maybe update my tattoo to make the tattooed part more realistic. I know my plastic surgeon's office did not go super deep with their tattooing. I also asked my spouse his thoughts about my reconstruction just before typing this as he's never really said much. Right away he said he was impressed by how realistic it looks still.

    I had a lot of time to decide, and still tried on my surgery choices mentally a few times as well as went to a breast cancer show and tell reconstruction event in my city where I could see other patient's results. Wishing you the very best of luck making your decisions.

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