Permanently Beautiful

by Elyn Jacobs, Executive Director and the Director of Grants for the Emerald Heart Cancer Foundation, a certified cancer coach and a breast cancer survivor

For many women, feeling better about themselves involves cosmetics, hair color, a new dress.  For others, it involves a bit more.  For cancer patients, it takes on a whole different meaning. The last thing a breast cancer survivor wants is to be reminded of the tragic ordeal they’ve been through.  Those who have had to endure a mastectomy, whose nipples are either removed or left asymmetrical or changed, are often saddened by looking down or in the mirror. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder; but when cancer survivors look at themselves in the mirror, they focus on the scarred tissue from cancer surgery, the doughy flesh of reconstructed breasts and the baldness left by chemotherapy. The person they see in the mirror is unfamiliar, ugly, and unfeminine. Yes, cancer survivors will agree, they’re lucky to be alive, but it’s not enough. They long to look attractive and feminine again, to feel whole. Physicians may be able to restore the body, but artistically-applied paramedical tattoos and permanent cosmetics can help to revive the soul, restoring the natural beauty and self-assurance that cancer stripped away.

Quality of life is important to me, and is a critical part of my blog content, so I spoke to an incredible permanent make-up artist about this issue.

When radiation and chemotherapy aren’t enough, many women with breast cancer have to undergo unilateral mastectomies in order to have their cancerous breast tissue aggressively removed.  If you’ve been faced with taking this difficult and often frightening step towards recovery, it might be of some comfort to become mentally prepared ahead of time, arming yourself with knowledge about what to expect after the procedure.

During your procedure, an incision will be made in your breast.  Most mastectomy incisions are in the shape of an oval around the nipple, running across the width of the breast.  Your incision might be smaller or larger depending on the exact type of mastectomy you’re having.  Some incisions are only around the nipple areola, while others run across the entire breast.  Check with your doctor to be sure.

Most women opt to have a breast reconstruction procedure immediately after their mastectomy.  If you have opted for this, you can expect to see a reconstructed breast after your bandages are removed, but you should be prepared to see a fair amount of scarring, particularly around the nipple.  The
nipple on your reconstructed breast will not likely match the nipple on your natural breast.  Your next step should be to consult with the expert paramedical tattooing professionals at the Melany Whitney Center of Permanent Cosmetics regarding areola restoration.  Melany and the friendly and understanding staff at her New York and New Jersey area facility will work to help you regain the look of beautiful and matching breasts, along with your self confidence.

If you’ve undergone breast augmentation or enlargement surgery, a breast reduction, a breast lift, or Gynecomastia surgery, it’s likely that you’ve noticed an undesirable change in the look of your nipple areolas.  The look of the areola can become altered after breast surgery due to incision site scarring or even the almost complete removal of much of the nipple areola tissue.  Therefore, if you’re a man or a woman who has had breast surgery, areola repigmentation is often an important stop on your road back to confidence.

Areola repigmentation, also known as areola tattooing, areola micropigmentation, areola recoloring, restoration, or areola simulation, can restore a natural looking color and shape to the areola and minimize the look of scarring around the area.  For women who have unfortunately lost their entire nipple due to a mastectomy procedure, permanent paramedical tattooing even provides the perfect solution for “creating” a new nipple areola.

The expert paramedical tattooing professionals at the Melany Whitney Center for Permanent Cosmetics have been called on by prominent plastic surgeons throughout the New York and New Jersey area for years in order to apply natural looking areolas after a patient’s breast surgery.  If you’ve undergone breast
surgery or will undergo breast surgery in the future, call the Melany Whitney Center today to consult about how areola repigmentation can help you to mprove
your end result.

Artist Melany Whitney at the Whitney Center for Permanent Cosmetics helps to change the lives of both men and women who are unhappy with the appearance of their breast areolas.  Those who have lost their breast areolas due to mastectomy or gynecomastia can visit one of Melany’s permanent cosmetics offices in New York, New Jersey, or Florida in order to have the look of their nipple areolas fully restored. 

The last thing a breast cancer survivor wants is to be reminded of the tragic ordeal they’ve been through.  Those who have had to endure a mastectomy, whose nipples are either removed or left asymmetrical or changed, are often saddened by looking down or in the mirror.  Fortunately permanent cosmetics can help them regain their confidence. 

Permanent cosmetics can even be used to make nipples larger, smaller, or more even depending on what a client wants.  “I spend a minimum of two hours with each one of my clients because I like to take my time with my art,” Melany Whitney told AOL News during a recent press interview.  Spending time with clients allows Melany to make a client’s new nipple areolas to look extremely natural through the use of shading and texture work.

When Aol News decided to do an article on nipple and areola restoration after breast surgery, they sought out Melany Whitney, a prominent national expert in permanent cosmetics and creator of a revolutionary three-dimensional cosmetic tattooing technique that makes breasts look completely normal and natural. In the November 12, 2010 article, Nipple Tattoos Come with Permanent Perks, Melany talks about her long-term commitment to helping breast cancer survivors recover and how she uses her unique artistic talent to make reconstructed breasts look natural.

In working with breast cancer survivors who had undergone mastectomy, Melany was struck by the importance women placed on having a normal-looking breast. Blank breast mounds were a daily reminder of their struggle with cancer, preventing them from moving forward with their lives. The absence of a natural-looking areola and nipple intensified their loss, making women feel unfeminine and incomplete.

“Ever since I saw that first woman without a ‘face’ on her breast, I knew I had to do this,” Melany told Aol News in an interview. “These tattoos give women their lives back. They can begin to put the trauma behind them and move forward with confidence again.”

Like a Renaissance master painting the human form, Melany, a professionally-trained artist, uses her vast knowledge of pigments and artistic shading to create what she calls “the illusion of protrusion.” The results delight her permanent cosmetics clients. Click here to view a video in which Melany explains the procedure.

Many people who could benefit from paramedical tattooing, do not realize that, in many cases, it is covered under their medical insurance plan. Paramedical tattooing is often performed to complete breast restoration after mastectomy or hide scar damage from accidents or surgery. In 1998 Congress passed the Women’s Health and Cancer Rights Act that forced traditional health insurance companies to cover reconstructive surgery and related services associated with breast cancer reconstruction when those services are recommended by the patient’s attending physician. Elected medical ancillary services, including paramedical tattooing to complete breast restoration after mastectomy, provided by qualified providers, such as the nationally-recognized Whitney Center for Permanent Cosmetics, are covered by most insurance plans.

Patients with out-of-network insurance benefits that allow them to choose practitioners who are not listed network providers will find that, in most cases, out-of-network services are paid at the same percentage rate as in-network services. This gives breast cancer survivors the freedom to select a paramedical tattoo professional based not on cost but on the quality of the services provided. Too often recovering breast cancer patients are unaware of their legal rights and believe their only option is to return to the hospital to have the final step in the reconstruction of their breast performed by a physician or nurse without the practiced experience and artistic eye of a paramedical tattoo professional like Melany Whitney. Melany has the technique, skill and artistry to create a three-dimensional nipple/areola complex that looks completely natural.

The nice weather has brought out waves of pink-shirted walkers and runners bobbing their way through American towns. They wind through city streets in their pink shirts to support women who are fighting breast cancer and to raise money for local cancer hospitals and the American Cancer Society. Nearly everyone in America has shared a family member’s battle with cancer or has supported a friend who is fighting against this insidious disease. Every year, breast cancer strikes 1in 8 women and a number of men. An estimated 192,370 new cases of invasive breast cancer were reported among American women in 2009, in addition to 62,280 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer. Among U.S. men, 1,990 new cases of invasive breast cancer were reported.

When breast cancer necessitates the removal of a breast, the decision can be traumatic, affecting a woman’s core view of herself. Our breasts are part of what define us as women. Losing a breast to mastectomy makes many breast cancer survivors feel less feminine and less confident about their appearance. Long experience working with breast cancer survivors led paramedical cosmetic tattoo expert Melany Whitney to develop a realistic three-dimensional nipple and areola restoration technique that helps women regain their feeling of femininity after a mastectomy. Click here to find out more.

Christina Applegate

With advances in breast reconstruction surgery, more women are choosing to fight cancer by having their entire breast removed instead of just the immediately affected tissue. They feel that when cancer is diagnosed, removal of the entire breast gives them the best chance of long-term health. By removing the entire breast, women feel they are removing the opportunity for cancer to recur or spread. In fact, the emotional, physical and financial cost of fighting breast cancer and the constant worry of recurrence or spread has a growing number of women pressuring surgeons to remove healthy breasts as a preventive measure.

Many women were shocked by Christina Applegate’s decision to have both healthy breasts removed two years ago when she discovered she carried a known genetic risk marker for breast cancer. But since then more than 9,000 women have followed her lead and had a healthy breast removed, according to a new study in The Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Expert permanent makeup artist Melany Whitney works closely with many breast cancer patients and their surgeons to help create real-looking breasts after mastectomy. Through her work with breast cancer patients, Melany has developed a unique paramedical tattooing technique that can create a real-looking three-dimensional nipple and areola on a reconstructed breast. Melany’s technique and artistry allow breast cancer survivors to feel confident and proud about their breasts after mastectomy.

In good news for breast cancer survivors, a new survey of women who underwent paramedical tattooing to create nipple-areolas as part of breast reconstruction surgery after mastectomy found a high rate of long-term patient satisfaction. Published in the Annals of Plastic Surgery, the report demonstrates acceptance by both the medical community and breast cancer patients of nipple-areola tattooing as a viable alternative to additional surgery in breast reconstruction.

Six years following paramedical tattooing, fully 84% of the women surveyed continued to rate their nipple-areola tattoo as satisfactorily pleasing in appearance; and 86% of patients agreed they would again choose a nipple-areola tattoo over other possible breast reconstruction options. Two to six years post surgery, more than half of the women (57%) surveyed reported that their nipple-areola tattoo still looked like a normal areola. Fewer than 3% reported problems with rash or infection post-procedure.

While 60% of tattoos in the study were marginally lighter in coloration than the natural areola, only 10% required any touching up to correct for excessive fading. Expert paramedical tattoo artist Melany Whitney has developed a procedure that minimizes potential fading of nipple-areola tattoos. By implanting a second layer of pigments six weeks after the initial implantation of permanent cosmetics, Melany is able to increase color retention and tattoo longevity. She has received no complaints about premature fading from her nipple-areola patients. In fact, Melany’s clients have been amazed by the realism and illusion of nipple protrusion achieved by Melany’s unique artistry and expert tattooing technique.

What's you bra color?

Tiger stripes. Purple with lace. Boring beige. Plain white. What’s the update in your Facebook status box today? Color. Just a single word statement of solidarity and support. Women started posting their bra color to their Facebook status update in the morning. Before they arrived at the office the phenomenon had gone viral. Single color statements of white or black were soon joined by the more colorful choices of women who enjoy expressing their individuality with their undergarments. Plaid with tiny flowers. Pink roses. Leopard spots. Red with yellow polka dots. No one really knew what was going on or why but it was fun!

For many it turned became a way to “spread the wings of cancer awareness.” It started out just for us girls with women sending their status only to gal pals. But it didn’t take men — and the media – long to catch on. Some guys even started posting their boxer colors in support! Whatever the reason for participating, it was a fun way to show your support for the fight against breast cancer.

Permanent cosmetics expert Melany Whitney is a long-time supporter of breast cancer awareness. Her revolutionary areola repigmentation and nipple restoration techniques have helped breast cancer patients undergoing breast reconstruction regain confidence in their personal beauty and femininity. Combining her skilled artistry with expert cosmetic tattoo micropigmentation techniques, Melany is able to create a natural three-dimensional appearing nipple and areola for women who have lost a breast to cancer.