Woman affected by breast cancer offers nipple reconstructive tattoos
HENDRICKS COUNTY, Ind. (WISH) — There’s a new option available for breast cancer survivors in central Indiana, specifically those who have undergone a mastectomy.
There’s now a tattoo specialist at Hendricks Regional Health who is able to make reconstructed breasts look more like the real thing.
“It’s like the last, final step where you feel normal again,” said Mary Hauser, reconstructive tattoo specialist at Hendricks Regional Health.
Hauser doesn’t look like your typical tattoo artist.
“I’ve always painted and been artistic, so I thought maybe I can do this, you know?” Hauser said.
And her clients often don’t seem like someone who would want a tattoo.
“Most of them, that’s the first thing they’ll say ‘I’ve never had a tattoo before.” and I said ‘I was the same way,’” Hauser said.
But after watching her sister battle breast cancer and choosing to have a mastectomy herself, Hauser went to Florida for a one-year apprenticeship to learn how to nipple tattoo reconstruction.
“It really completes their reconstruction and gives them as close as we possibly can to a natural breast look,” Dr. Rachel Scott, Hendricks Regional Health plastic surgeon, said.
Scott believes the tattoos are part of recognizing the importance of breast reconstruction after cancer.
“It’s not just about curing the cancer. It’s about what’s going on with their quality of life for the rest of their decades of life ahead of them,” Scott said.
“If you think back years ago, my grandmother had to have a mastectomy and you know they just didn’t pay attention to any of the results really after that. So she was really basically disfigured the rest of her life and that’s traumatic for a woman,” breast cancer survivor Kim Russey said.
Russey found herself in Hauser’s tattooing chair about two and half years after her breast cancer diagnosis and battle. She says the nipple and areola tattoos replace scars from painful surgeries and look realistic.
“It’s just like you’re like any other woman, so you just regain some of that confidence and self image back,” Russey said.
“It’s kind of nice, because I feel like I make a friend each time, because we talk. You know I’m working on them for four hours, so we talk about what they’ve gone through,” Hauser said. “Usually get a hug and some tears and people are really grateful to have it finished.”
Only a few people in central Indiana are properly training and offer reconstructive nipple tattoos in a medical setting, where it can be reimbursed by insurance. The tattoos would cost about $375 without insurance.
Hauser is at Hendricks Regional Health in Danville, There is also a specialist at St. Vincent Health.