Interview by Charlotte Lucas, Lady McAdden
Featuring Lucy White – Permanent Make-Up Artist, Rayleigh
For many breast cancer survivors, the physical healing doesn’t always align with the emotional journey. After surgery, treatment, and endless medical appointments, there comes a moment when something deeply personal is still missing — a final step to feeling “whole” again.
Areola tattooing, a form of medical tattooing, is, for many, becoming a part of post-mastectomy recovery, offering more than just aesthetic restoration — some have said it offers closure, confidence, and emotional healing.
We spoke with Lucy White, a permanent make-up artist based in Rayleigh, about the impact of areola tattooing, the process itself, and what it means for those who’ve been through so much.
(Interviewer Charlotte) “First of all, can you just tell me a bit more about what a permanent makeup nipple tattoo is?”
(PMU Lucy) “Yes, so basically what we’re trying to do, if a woman has had a mastectomy or sometimes cosmetic surgery and they’ve either had complete removal of their areola or sometimes they’ve lost part of it, Using like a method that is similar to, or is tattooing effectively, we’re trying to replicate the appearance of a nipple and areola.”
(Charlotte) “So we’re using tattoo methods to create like a 3D tattoo.”
(Lucy) “Yes, to give the woman back their areola, basically.”
(Charlotte) “Okay, so it will look 3D as well?”
(Lucy) “Yes, so there are methods to use that will make it 3D. If somebody has got a complete blank canvas because they might have had a full mastectomy, we would be looking to try to create a 3D looking areola. Obviously if somebody has had a breast reconstruction, obviously that’s another option available to people sometimes. Some of it may be more related to putting pigment back in and colour, but I would say the bulk of the work that I do is creating the 3D look, so to look like a protruding nipple.”
(Charlotte) “So, for anyone who hasn’t heard of this, or even if, like, maybe thinking about having it done. Can you just walk me through the process of actually having an areola tattoo?”
(Lucy) “So it would be different depending on the woman or man’s circumstances. Right from the start, I get all of my clients to come in for a consultation with me because I like to have a look at the area. Obviously everyone’s different with things like scar tissue. Everyone’s case is just completely different, it’s so varied. Once I’ve established that we can do it and the appointment has been made, what I would be doing is looking at… so say somebody had a single areola. I would be looking to match the new one up with the existing areola that is there left. If somebody has had a full mastectomy and has had reconstruction and we’re starting from scratch, you can literally pick your own areola. So you can decide what you want and some women will come in with a picture of how their boobs were, so how their areola and nipple were before. Some women will come in and say, I want a completely different type of areola, like I want it a lot smaller or perkier or whatever. Some people have even had like, over the years, I’ve seen other people do heart-shaped areolas. If it was starting completely from scratch, then we would draw on…I freehand it. I’m not really one for measuring and stuff, so I kind of just draw. Then colour match, and we pick our colours. So if it was a single, we would be matching with the other side. If it was from scratch and we’re doing two, then you can basically have whatever colour you want. If you want a pink one, you can have pink one, brown, you can have brown. Any other sort of circumstances that I see a lot really would be the reconstructed breast. Again, in that case, we’re kind of working with what the surgeon has put there.”
(Charlotte) “Does it hurt? Is it painful a treatment?”
(Lucy) “Again it varies, so I would say probably 90% of the ladies that I do, we don’t even need to use numbing cream. A lot of the time there is a significant reduction in the feeling because of the reconstruction mastectomy. So there’s not really… I would say at the very most it’s uncomfortable. I wouldn’t say it was painful. The only time that it’s painful is if we’re tattooing actual areolar tissue…But generally I would say most of my ladies that come in following a reconstruction don’t have much feeling there anyway.”
(Charlotte) “So can you tell us a little bit about the aftercare process?”
(Lucy) “Yeah, so my aftercare, people have different methods of aftercare and it’s come along over the years, but what I do with my ladies is I initially clean them up and then place a dressing over the area… they’re the see-through sort of plaster type thing. Like a second skin. They’ve given instructions to when to clean it, how to clean it, and then they replace those again. So it’s nice because you can just get on with life. It’s not like you’re having to walk around like gauze or anything stuck in there. And then we send our ladies or men off to heal. Then they’d come back, I usually see my ladies after eight weeks, for any retouches or any little tweaks that need doing. It’s fairly easy to look after.”
(Charlotte) “Okay, and in terms of like the healing process then, what can people expect from that?”
(Lucy) “It’s similar to like a normal body tattoo, if people have had those they’ll know what that means, but you’ll get sort of a little bit of flaking. You don’t generally see thick scabby and that’s more body tattoos, but flaking for sure. Sometimes people can get a little bit weepy after in the area. But again, that’s covered in the aftercare, what you would do if it happened. It’s fairly straightforward. After a couple of weeks, the area should be completely healed, but then it takes, I always say, four to six weeks to truly settle.”
(Charlotte) “This question I suppose is more opinion, but what do you think it means to a breast cancer survivor to have access to this kind of treatment?”
(Lucy) “I think it’s huge. I always feel really privileged that someone trusts me with something that is that important. The feedback, I mean not being in that actual situation myself, I couldn’t say exactly how it feels, but the feedback that I get from my ladies is that it’s literally like putting a full stop on a really, quite often, horrendous journey. And the other one that I get all the time is that they feel whole again. Because a lot of the time, people will describe it as the worst part for them is that blank space, like not having a focal point there because it’s unnatural to your eyes. As soon as something you put back there, like most, or pretty much everyone will say that they just feel more like their old self again.”
(Charlotte) “And do you have any stories that really kind of stand out to you about working with clients who have gone through this?”
(Lucy) “I don’t know if there’s a particular story but I think the ones that really are quite eye-opening are the real, like very young girls that have had a diagnosis of the BRCA gene. They always really touch me because they’re so brave with it…I think for a young woman, like we’re sometimes talking early 20s, like significantly younger than me, I can’t imagine what it would be like or how I would have reacted in my early 20s to learning that I was going to have to have a mastectomy. So those ones always really touched me because they’re just starting in their adult existence…”
(Charlotte) “Are there any special techniques or tools that you would use to make them look as realistic as possible?”
(Lucy) “So it is all to do with really just understanding light and shade. So anyone that’s got any sort of art background would understand that straight away anyway. But really the principle of it is kind of the darkness is going to push things back is the easiest way to describe it, and the light’s going to bring it forward. So you’re using that to kind of fake protruding elements of it. So that is the whole technique really, so there’s nothing sort of magic about it, it’s just understanding where a light source comes from and just replicating that, basically.”
(Charlotte) “I think the last question is just if you have any advice for someone thinking about getting this procedure done after breast cancer surgery. Would you have any advice as a professional?”
(Lucy) “I’d say with any other area of permanent makeup or tattooing or whatever, I think just look at, there are so many people, what’s brilliant now is that there are a lot of people doing this. So there is a lot more choice than there once was and you know, the same is with everything, people have got different styles, like other permanent makeup artists, areola tattooists, I can actually pick their work out just scrolling through Instagram without seeing their names. Everyone’s got their own distinct way. And I think it’s important just for any lady or man that is considering it, just to find the work that they like, go along for lots of consultations, go and meet the person that’s going to be doing it. Like we’ve already covered, it’s a sensitive subject, it’s often quite emotional, and you need to feel comfortable with who you’re going to. You’re going to be with them quite a while, a few hours. Just make sure you’ve found the right fit, you like the work. Feedback is overwhelmingly good and positive for the women’s experience moving forward.”
(Charlotte) “If, say someone does have it done and they really don’t like it is there a way of removing it?”
(Lucy) “You could potentially have laser tattoo removal in the area. I do actually do a lot of corrections. So obviously depending on what’s been done, there are ways that you can correct it and make it look good. So the old school ones, which a lot of the time were not very 3D, they were just like two circles or whatever, they’re fairly easy to actually give a bit of life to and to make 3D. So rather than going straight down the laser route, which obviously is quite uncomfortable, and if someone’s had loads of surgery and stuff on that area, they probably don’t want to then go through more not very nice experiences. It’s always a good idea, I think, to seek someone out first that might be able to just tweak it. There are ways, for sure, of doing it.”
(Charlotte) “Okay, so if somebody, say somebody was watching this and they had it done years ago and they had accepted, they weren’t very happy with it, but they just accepted like, Oh, this is better than what I had before… They could actually go to somebody who could do corrections and make it look a lot more realistic.”
(Lucy) “Yeah, I mean techniques and stuff have come along hugely. It’s well worth, depending on what is there, it will depend on what can be done, but it’s definitely worth seeking someone out.”
Whatever choice you make, make sure it is informed; do your research, ask the questions…
You are not alone. You are not unfinished. And you are absolutely worthy of feeling whole.
