After my aunt revealed a shocking experience, I wanted to use my skills to help others heal. By Lucy Thompson, 33
I wiped my client’s skin with a paper towel, then admired my work.
‘All done!’ I told her.
‘That looks brilliant,’ she said, admiring the rose design on her arm.
I’d always loved drawing and painting, and as I got older I decided to use those skills to become a tattoo artist. Eventually, I opened my own studio in Bradford, West Yorkshire.
As my client base grew, I wanted to push myself.
I’d heard from other artists that tattooing over scars was really difficult, as the skin texture was so different.
And, after getting enquiries from people who wanted scars covered, I began offering the service for free to get some experience.
Seeing how much it boosted people’s self-esteem felt amazing.
Then, one day, a lady popped in and asked: ‘Do you do nipple tattoos?’
'Do you do nipple tattoos?'
She’d had breast cancer and wanted a tattoo that created a realistic-looking nipple,
I’d never done one before, but I knew my auntie Pam had had one after her single mastectomy, so I asked her about it.
‘It hurt a lot,’ she said, wincing at the memory. ‘I had it done in the hospital, and it didn’t even last. After a few months, it just scabbed up and faded away.’
‘Tattoos shouldn’t do that!’ I said, horrified. ‘They’re supposed to last a lifetime. And they certainly shouldn’t scab or fade.’
As we talked, she admitted that 10 years after her botched tattoo, she still hated looking at her body in the mirror.
After the trauma of the diagnosis and then the treatment, the last thing she or any breast cancer survivor needed was a painful tattoo that wasn’t even permanent.
Determined to help change things, I signed up for a specialist course to learn how to do nipple tattoos.
‘This is how you shade the skin to make it look three-dimensional,’ my instructor Stacie explained, doing a demo on fake skin.
There were loads of different flesh-coloured inks, to get the perfect match.
When I gazed at the finished result, I was blown away by how real it looked.
After my training, I set up the first certified UK service to offer medical nipple tattoos.
One day, as I prepared a private area for a client who wanted one, Auntie Pam rang.
I’d already mentioned to the client that my aunt’s bad experience had put her off getting hers redone.
So when she realised it was Pam on the phone, she said: ‘She could come and watch me having mine. Maybe that will put her at ease.’
I suggested it and Auntie Pam agreed to come to the studio.
She watched closely as I inked away and was amazed at how comfortable my client was.
‘There’s so little blood compared to when I got mine!’ said Auntie Pam.
A few weeks later, she made a decision.
‘I’m ready to get it done again,’ she said
Ecstatic, I booked her in immediately.
The tattoo process, including the consultation, took less than an hour.
‘How are you feeling?’ I asked, as I matched the ink to her skin tone and perfected the shading.
‘Fine!’ she replied.
'It looks so realistic'
When I’d finished, she looked in the mirror and gasped.
‘Oh Lucy, it’s wonderful!’ she said. ‘It looks so realistic.’
Her confidence came back tenfold.
She was happy to discuss her breast-cancer journey again, and even showed some of her friends the tattoo.
Inspired by Auntie Pam and the other ladies I’d inked, I founded the Nipple Innovation Project, or NIP for short. It’s a charity offering free and permanent 3D-effect nipple, areola and mastectomy tattoos,
Five years on, my army of volunteer tattooists and I have helped hundreds of people take back control of their bodies after mastectomies or reconstructive breast surgery.
Some people don’t want to recreate their actual nipple and choose a chest tattoo instead.
Scars remind people of a negative event in their life, so to cover someone’s trauma with art is the best feeling ever. It can be that last piece of the jigsaw to help them heal emotionally.
Now, I’m setting up a training academy, and my dream is to have qualified artists across the UK, so anyone who needs a cover-up can have it done safely.
We all have the right to love the skin we’re in.
To find out more, visit www.nipcharity.org