Permanently Beautiful

Time to wear pink! October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and we’re happy to report that progress is being made. According to the American Cancer Society, since 1990 breast cancer deaths in the U.S. have been declining by about 2% a year. Even so, 192,370 U.S. women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year and 40,170 will die from the disease. The good news is that survival rates are improving: 89% at five years after diagnosis, 82% after 10 years and 75% after 15 years. But survival often carries a high price tag. Women lose their hair, eyebrows and eyelashes to chemotherapy. They may lose a breast if they have to undergo a mastectomy. Cancer surgery can leave unsightly scars. Certainly, it seems a small price to pay for life; but the physical aftermath of battling cancer can continue to reopen emotional wounds as survivors try to move on with their lives.

If you are a cancer survivor, we want you to know that you are not alone. The caring staff at the Whitney Center for Permanent Cosmetics offers our support. Specialized paramedical tattooing techniques perfected by nationally-recognized technician Melany Whitney can help cancer survivors regain their beauty and self-confidence. Permanent makeup can recreate natural eyebrows and eyelashes lost during chemotherapy. Artistic paramedical tattooing can camouflage scars from tumor surgery. Melany’s unique three-dimensional nipple and areola restoration can make surgically reconstructed breasts look natural again. There is life after cancer. Permanent makeup can help a beautiful new you enjoy each new day.

Just a year after a double mastectomy for breast cancer, Christina Applegate looked radiant at this year’s Emmy Awards in a stunning navy silk charmeuse gown from Basil Soda. I loved the sensually draped bodice and eye-catching sheer lace midriff. At the January SAG awards, the Samantha Who? star was just as gorgeous in an emerald green off-the-shoulder gown from Emanuel Ungaro. Christina hasn’t let her battle with breast cancer or her decision to undergo a double mastectomy hold her back. Thanks to the surgery, the television comedian is cancer free, as lovely as ever and working hard.

Like many women who undergo a mastectomy for breast cancer, Christina had breast reconstruction surgery. While surgery can return nature’s curves to a woman’s body, the lack of visible areola and nipples can make reconstructed breasts seem less than real to cancer survivors. It was her desire to help cancer survivors reclaim their femininity that led nationally recognized paramedical tattoo artist and permanent makeup specialist Melany Whitney to develop a realistic-looking three-dimensional areola/nipple complex for reconstructed breasts. Click here to see the amazingly realistic results of Melany’s unique nipple and areola restoration technique.

As Christina knows, self confidence comes from within, but how we look does affect how we feel. Paramedical tattooing restores the breast’s natural beauty, helping cancer victims regain confidence in their own femininity.

Breast cancer survivors who have undergone mastectomy are often anxious to proceed with breast reconstruction surgery. When the trauma and worry of surgery and subsequent treatment end, they are eager to move forward and reclaim their femininity. It can be hard to wait when you just want to feel whole again.

Difficult as it may be, it is necessary to allow the body to adjust after surgery so that the finished breast reconstruction will look natural. After the breast mound has been reconstructed, breast cancer survivors must wait another two to three months before the nipple and areola can be recreated with paramedical tattooing. It takes time for swelling in the breast mound to reduce and for the new breast to settle into its natural sag. It is necessary to wait so that the permanent cosmetics technician can correctly place the nipple and areola in line with the other breast to achieve a naturally symmetrical appearance.

Observing first-hand the pain and doubt that affect breast cancer survivors as they struggle to rebuild their sense of self, permanent makeup and paramedical tattoo artist Melany Whitney has developed a unique paramedical tattooing technique that creates the three-dimensional appearance of a nipple and areola on a reconstructed breast. To view photographs, visit The Whitney Center for Permanent Cosmetics website.

Every four seconds another woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. Many will lose one or both breasts during their courageous fight against this disease. Breast reconstruction has become a common practice in America and an integral element in the healing process after a mastectomy. Complete breast reconstruction recreates not only the shape and balance of the breast mounds, but strives to recreate the appearance of a normal areola and nipple. This is what makes a breast mound look real, giving a healing cancer patient renewed confidence in her appearance as a woman.

Too often this final important step in the breast reconstruction process is performed by the individual’s surgeon, his nurse or a technician. While these individuals may be skilled in their respective fields, the application of paramedical tattooing to create a natural-looking nipple and areola is a highly specialized skill. Too often a cancer survivor must suffer one more indignity when inexpertly applied micropigmentation fails to produce a natural-looking or even acceptable result.

The Whitney Center for Permanent Cosmetics‘ Melany Whitney is a nationally-recognized expert in paramedical tattooing. Her compassion for the breast cancer survivors she treats led Melany to develop a revolutionary micropigmentation technique that successfully creates the illusion of a lifelike areola and three-dimensional nipple. Through Melany’s unique blend of technical expertise and artistry, breast cancer survivors are able to again have normal-looking, attractive breasts.

New techniques in breast reconstruction offer breast cancer patients who have lost one or both breasts from mastectomy options they didn’t have before. Unfortunately, many doctors fail to share these new procedures with their patients. Reasons vary. Sometimes the doctor is not trained in these state-of-the-art procedures and so is not able to perform them. Sometimes these procedures, which are often more complex than standard surgical options, are not offered because they are less profitable for doctors and hospitals. Often doctors don’t even discuss reconstruction options with their patients; they offer only one surgical option.

“It is clear that many reconstruction patients are not being given the full picture of their options,” Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women and Families recently told Natasha Singer of The New York Times.

Women who have experienced problems with traditional breast reconstruction procedures have been sharing information about new options at breastcancer.org, a patient-information website.  One of the procedures discussed in the site’s chat room is the construction of new breasts from a wedge of fat and blood vessels transplanted from the abdomen or buttocks. While more surgically complex than traditional reconstruction with implants, the new procedure offers a viable option for the many women who experience difficulties with saline and silicon breast implants. 

The American Society of Plastic Surgeons is promoting new techniques in breast reconstruction to raise awareness of new procedures by emphasizing a woman’s power to choose whether and how to reconstruct her breasts. Visit our website for information on Melany Whitney’s revolutionary new micropigmentation technique that creates a natural looking areola and three-dimensional nipple for breast reconstruction patients.