大象传媒

Every day, around 150 people are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK. The majority of those diagnosed are women, and a large number of patients have a mastectomy – surgery to remove the entire breast – as part of their treatment.

But this surgery can lead to scarring and the removal of a nipple, with some breast cancer survivors reporting a loss in self confidence when they look down at their bodies. Medical tattoos have become more popular in the past few years, offering another option for breast cancer survivors who want to reclaim their nipples.

Tanya Buxton, a tattoo artist from Gloucestershire, offers realistic 3D nipple tattoos that she says “help us heal from within”. Two years ago, Tanya had a cancer “scare” when she discovered a lump in her left breast. While waiting to see a cancer specialist at her local hospital, she started thinking about what might happen to her breasts: “It scared me... the thought of losing my boobs was a horrible thought and it was the first thing that came into my head.” Luckily, a biopsy showed she did not have cancer but the experience “ignited an even bigger passion” to continue creating realistic medical tattoos for breast cancer survivors.

Tanya has been inking clients for 12 years, creating rich and intricate portraits and designs for thousands of people. She puts all of her knowledge and experience to use in her medical tattoos: “There's a lot of artistry involved in creating a 3D realistic nipple. I've spent a long, long time studying colour theory and practising. And then you have to speak to your client as well and ask what they want, because obviously nipples come in all different shapes, sizes and colours. And so I always have a real thorough consultation with the client first.”

A tattoo for a breast cancer survivor is so much more than just a 3D nipple. There are the areolas to consider – the ring of pigmented skin around the nipple – then the freckles, the moles, the little grooves, and the shadows. Tanya even reached out to her friends with an unusual request for inspiration. “I didn't realise how different nipples looked until I started asking for pictures from all my friends. I was kind of shocked at how different everyone's nipples are,” she recalls.

Tanya believes her work has an important role in a breast cancer survivor’s journey. “It sort of marks a new beginning of health and a new exciting chapter. It gives them back a piece of themselves again.” One of her clients, Sarah Stock, a nurse from Lincolnshire who currently works at a Covid-19 vaccination centre, had a double mastectomy in August 2016 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had already lost her mum to the disease and her family were worried they might lose her too. “I've got three children, so that was quite a traumatic time in their teenage years to find out that mum has breast cancer.”

Sarah said her body confidence “waned” after the surgery. “I used to bring my arm across my breast if I was naked or even going in the shower. I would never really look at myself in the mirror,” she recalls. But this changed in July 2020 when she received a set of nipple tattoos from Tanya alongside some pink magnolia flowers on one of her breasts. Sarah remembers seeing her new tattoos reflected in a mirror in Tanya’s studio for the first time. “I was actually quite speechless. I was like, 'oh gosh'. I think all I kept saying was, 'I've got a nipple, I've got two nipples, I'm balanced'. And I was just so surprised because I hadn't expected the effect to be as good as it actually was.” Thanks to the tattoos, Sarah has regained a large chunk of self-confidence and even finds herself posing naked in front of the mirror now and again.