Permanently Beautiful

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.

I love the cool tat-designed Warriors in Pink t-shirt worn by NCIS star Pauley Perrette in the new Ford Cares fight against breast cancer public service announcement. Pauley plays the fabulously funky, tat-loving, sweet and huggable Princess of Darkness Abby Sciuto on the hit CBS crime show. The fight against breast cancer is close to Pauley’s heart. She lost her mom to breast cancer in 2002. When you purchase Pauley’s cool Midnight Warrior T-Shirt or other Warriors in Pink gear, Ford donates 100% of net profits to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.

Warriors in Pink is just one of several new breast cancer awareness efforts aimed at younger women. At the forefront of this edgier, humorously self-aware approach is Canadian-based charity Rethink Breast Cancer. Their tongue-in-cheek, jiggly, giggly Save the Boobs psa recently rocked YouTube. Sponsors of Toronto’s annual Boobyball breast cancer benefit gala, the group is trying to connect with MTV-raised women who don’t see breast cancer as a personal risk, despite the fact that 5% of U.S. women battling breast cancer are under 40.

Pink t-shirts proclaiming “Save the ta-tas” and other cheeky slogans have catapulted Julia Fikse’s same-named Southern Cal t-shirt business to popularity among 20- and 30-somethings. The fashion designer donates 5% of every sale to breast cancer research and awareness in support of family members who are battling the disease.

That same personal involvement with women battling breast cancer led renowned paramedical tattoo artist Melany Whitney to develop her unique 3-D nipple and areola breast restoration technique.

As women we reject the chauvinistic notion that we are defined by our most protruding feature. We are not our breasts. Yet, the undeniable reality is that our breasts do differentiate us as wholly female and are inextricably intertwined with our sense of femininity. When a woman loses a breast to cancer, she grieves. Part of what makes her feel female is gone forever. The emotional struggle to adjust to the loss of a breast from mastectomy is one more hurdle toward recovery.

Breast reconstruction surgery has helped many breast cancer survivors regain confidence in their femininity. But breast reconstruction provides only the shape of the lost breast. For many women, the scarring and lack of areola and nipple definition can be as horrible as the initial loss and a jarring daily reminder of that loss. A breast is more than a mound of tissue. The deeper colored areola and protruding nipple define a woman’s breast. Without that essential definition it is difficult for many women to embrace a reconstructed breast as their own.

Many plastic surgeons do not understand the emotional need to create an aesthetically realistic breast. Through her work with mastectomy patients, paramedical tattoo expert Melany Whitney came to realize the deep emotional need breast cancer survivors had for reconstructed breasts that looked real. Combining her artistic ability and professional expertise, Melany developed a unique micropigmentation tattoo technique that recreates the natural, three-dimensional look of a real breast. Click here to see actual results. Paramedical breast restoration can be the final step in successful breast cancer recovery.

Most of us have a family member or close friend who has had or who is now struggling against breast cancer. For women, the fight against breast cancer is a universal experience, the struggle that binds us to each other, the cause that brings us together. Breast cancer doesn’t distinguish rich from poor, CEO from sales clerk, professional woman from hotel maid, Hollywood celebrity from small town soccer mom. For women, breast cancer is the great equalizer and the fight against it, a common bond.

If you are close to someone who has fought against breast cancer, you understand the difficulty and intensity of the struggle. You’ve held her hand and cried with her. You’ve kept her company in cold, drafty hospital rooms. You’ve watched her children when the nausea from chemotherapy made her ill. You’ve delivered endless casseroles when she was too exhausted to cook. You may have shaved your head in solidarity or grown your locks for donation to Locks of Love. You’ve walked and cycled countless miles to raise funds for cancer research. Most of all, you’ve been there when your friend needed you most. If you are fortunate, you’ve helped your friend survive for we are slowly, at long last, winning the fight against breast cancer.

But even after the fight is won, the struggle to adjust to the loss of a breast from mastectomy can be a difficult hurdle, one more agonizing battle in the fight against breast cancer.

Thursday: How Permanent Makeup can help your loved one fight the final battle in breast cancer recovery.

The removal of a breast due to cancer surgery is a deeply felt loss. Our breasts are part of what defines us as women. Though we understand the necessity of the medical procedure and are grateful for the renewed opportunity to embrace life, the loss is still painful. We grieve for our lost femininity and feel less whole. Breast reconstruction surgery allows us to reclaim our bodies and our femininity.

Breast reconstruction begins with the surgical creation of the 3-dimensional breast shape. But what makes a reconstructed breast seem real and feminine is the repigmentation of the skin that creates a natural-looking areola and nipple and makes the breast look real. Feeling that you look as feminine and whole as you did before surgery can be critical to a woman’s emotional recovery from breast cancer and her ability to accept herself.

Unfortunately not all reconstructive efforts result in a natural-looking breast. Many plastic surgeons lack the expertise and artistry necessary to perform the exacting paramedical tattooing involved in repigmenting the skin to create a natural-appearing areola and nipple. Some leave this vitally important procedure to inexperienced nurses or medical personnel. Many never mention to their patients that there are other options to having this critical final step performed in the surgeon’s office. 

Nationally recognized permanent makeup and paramedical tattooing expert Melany Whitney has developed a unique micropigmentation process for use in breast restoration that restores a woman’s sense of beauty. Calling upon her considerable skill and experience, Melany is able to artistically recreate a realistic, naturally-colored areola and three-dimensional appearing nipple. Grateful clients call Melany’s new technique nothing short of a miracle. For full information visit the Whitney Center for Permanent Cosmetics.

“Beauty is an outward gift, which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused,”  American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in another era. The sensibilities of the 1800s may have been different than those of today, but Emerson’s observation still rings true. While we seek to value people not merely for their physical beauty but for the beauty of the spirit that dwells within, our outward appearance still affects how we feel about ourselves and how others view us. Most of us do not aspire to the epic beauty of Helen of Troy, knowing that it is a gift granted to few; but we do take pleasure in presenting our most attractive face to the world.

There is deep pleasure in knowing that we look our best that fuels our self-confidence and nourishes our soul. The rise in self-esteem that comes with feeling physically beautiful gives us the power and energy to assert ourselves and claim our place in the world. How tragic then when an accident or disease strips all this away from us. We may regain our health, but that which leaves us physically scarred can destroy us emotionally. Our perceived loss of physical beauty, even if less noticed by others, decreases our sense of self-esteem, dampens our self-confidence and destroys the delicate inner balance that nourishes our spirit. We feel less than we are.

Permanent cosmetics restores our personal beauty and, with it, our spirit, self-confidence and courage to face the world. Paramedical cosmetic tattooing can camouflage scars from disease or injury. It can hide scars left by plastic surgery, car accidents or burns. Special techniques developed by nationally-recognized permanent makeup technician Melany Whitney can even create a natural-looking, three-dimensional areola and nipple for breast cancer patients undergoing breast reconstruction surgery. If you feel diminished by disease or injury, allow permanent cosmetics restore your sense of personal beauty.

The outward appearance of our face and body so often affects how we feel about ourselves. Surgery and injury can leave us scarred, not just physically, but emotionally. Nationally recognized permanent makeup expert Melany Whitney has perfected paramedical cosmetic tattooing techniques and pioneered new procedures in the field that permanently restore the unique personal beauty of disease and accident victims.

Melany Whitney’s exceptional expertise, impressive experience and talented artistry make her one of the nation’s top experts in the application of permanent paramedical cosmetic tattooing. Nationally prominent plastic surgeons, including physicians at the prestigious New York Presbyterian Hospital of Cornell University and the world-renowned Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, regularly recommend Ms. Whitney to their patients. She has pioneered some of the industry’s most successful techniques in the field of scar camouflaging from burns and injury, cosmetic tattooing to help ease the suffering of Alopecia Areata and Trichotillomania victims, and paramedical tattooing to aid women recovering from breast surgery or mastectomy. Her empathy for breast cancer survivors led Melany to develop a unique 3-D nipple restoration and areola repigmentation that recreates the look of a woman’s natural breast for those undergoing breast reconstruction surgery.

One of the nation’s most accomplished and artistic practitioners in the techniques and art of permanent cosmetics application and paramedical tattooing, Ms. Whitney is a highly sought-after instructor in the field. On the teaching staff of the prestigious Florida College of Natural Health, Ms. Whitney developed its nationally recognized Permanent Makeup Training Course. Having taught sold-out courses for the past five years, Ms. Whitney now conducts individual and advanced training as her schedule permits.

While we may chide men for their sometimes obsessive interest, our breasts are among the features that make us uniquely female. Losing a breast to cancer, while sometimes necessary, can be a very traumatic experience. For the sake of their health, some women must choose to sacrifice a piece of their femininity. Melany Whitney’s unique three-dimensional cosmetic tattooing allows these courageous women to regain breast beauty.

Many were shocked when 36-year-old actress Christina Applegate, whose mother is a repeat breast cancer survivor, made the difficult decision to have both breasts removed after being diagnosed with breast cancer and finding she carried the BRCA1 breast cancer gene. Even though cancer was found in only one breast, the beautiful star of ABC TV’s hit comedy Samantha Who chose to have both breasts removed to ensure complete elimination of the cancer and minimize its chance of returning. It can’t have been an easy decision for a woman at the height of her career.  

Losing her breasts has been emotionally traumatic, Ms. Applegate admitted. “Sometimes, you know, I cry. And sometimes I scream. And I get really angry,” she said. But the actress considers her anguish “all part of the healing.” Over the next eight months, Ms. Applegate will be undergoing breast reconstruction surgery.  “I’m going to have cute boobs till I’m 90,” joked the irrepressible actress.

Restoring breast beauty after cancer loss to help survivors recapture self-confidence in their femininity has been particularly satisfying to Board Certified permanent cosmetics technician Melany Whitney. To restore natural beauty to reconstructed breasts, she has developed a unique cosmetic tattooing procedure that recreates the realistic three-dimensional appearance of a natural nipple and areola. “When my client cries after seeing herself looking whole again, I cry also,” she said. “I am so thrilled I can help each woman regain what she lost and move forward with their lives.”