Member Article

UK First Achieved by Yorkshire Tattoo Artist Supporting Breast Cancer Survivors

This month sees a local female tattoo artist and single mum making history, after investing her savings into a trip to the US, which now enables her to launch a groundbreaking new service for women who’ve had a mastectomy.

Mum of 1, Lucy Thompson, 27, from Cullingworth in Bradford, who runs her business, Skinflicted, from Keighley travelled to Texas to be the first UK artist to seek and achieve specialist training in the craft of tattooing realistic areolas on breast cancer patients, in her bid to shake up the industry and illustrate to breast cancer survivors that “they deserve better” when it comes to post op cosmetic reconstruction.

Having trained through The House of A.R.T (Areola Restorative Tattooing) in Texas, who has pioneered a unique new system that gives the illusion of a 3 dimensional nipple, and a permanent, as apposed to semi permanent solution, as the current industry stands, Lucy is now offering this restorative service to mastectomy clients locally as part of her expansion in her 2nd year of business, and one of her first to benefit from her new skills is to be her Auntie.

Part of a globally growing movement, with colleagues in Canada, France and America, Lucy is the pioneer in the UK working to raise the current industry standards. She is the only tattoo artist in the UK using ‘The Pink Ribbon Series ’ from World Famous Ink’, made specifically for this cause, which she uses with specialist techniques from her advance training, making it possible to achieve 3D results that are permanent.

Lucy, who’s been a tattoo artist for the last 4 years, said: “Currently UK women only have the option of medical or cosmetic tattoo treatment - using micro pigmentation - this will wear away and require annual top ups. There are also issues with this in terms of real representation of the nipple as limited artistic skills mean women are often left with a result that could be much improved upon with specific tattoo skills.”

“After the trauma of going through cancer, I want to make the restorative period as stress free as possible and help women feel whole again, drawing a line under the arduous journey they have been through. Why should they have to return for future treatment when it can be done in 1 process. Women are accepting second best as there has never been another option but not many cosmetic tattooers have experience or have dealt with scarred tissue, especially tissue that has been through chemotherapy or has radiation burns or stretch marks from skin grafts - this is a huge concern. A tattoo artist understands the skin in a different way. We want to achieve painterly results and have the techniques to work with the skin and its delicacies to get the best possible results - the quality is of utmost importance”.

“We have a history of breast cancer in my family. My great auntie suffered from it, my auntie has endured it and my mum discovered a benign tumour which she has to regularly monitor. My Auntie had a mastectomy and got a tattoo done in hospital which has now faded to almost nothing so it needs re-doing - why is a surgeon even attempting to tattoo?- the experts should stick to what they know. This just isn’t good enough for a cancer surviver.” Lucy is working to get recognition from surgeons and doctors and media insurance companies for referrals of their patients to enable more women to access this service, something that is starting to happen in America but is a new concept for the UK currently. She is also exploring opportunities of working with local health authorities to enable funding for clients.

As part of launch activity in October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Lucy has offered her first 10 bookings at no charge (which have all been taken) and a discounted service is available all month (£100 off) at her all female studio in Keighley.

Lucy will also offer nipple tattoos to any trans/ non binary clients who have had top surgery who have had unsuccessful nipple grafts, as she looks to diversify her services making use of her new found skills. Her long-term plan is to open a clinic specifically for post medical treatment, making that another first in the UK - and she also plans to run drop in clinics throughout the country by travelling the UK visiting other studios, to enable others further afield than Yorkshire to benefit from the skills she has learnt.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chocolate PR .