Nipple-ized Thom!!!
I tend to assume that people know about the medical tattooing that I do. I know that not everyone does – but for some reason it is one of those things that I just don’t always talk about… but still figure that people magically know somehow.
Anyhow, for anyone who doesn’t know. I make areola and nipple reconstructions for mastectomy patients. Usually these are tattooed over a reconstructed or pronounced skin area made medically to approximate the protrusion of a natural nipple. Sometimes (usually on bilateral reconstructions) the patient will opt not to have the nipple reconstruction done. In these cases I will try to optically convince the eye that the nipple is there with what we usually refer to as 3-D tattooing. There are not a lot of tattooists that do this type of work and I get inquiries from all over the country from medical practitioners with specific questions about how it is done. I am in the process of putting together a booklet to send out that covers some of the hows and whys. To accompany the text I wanted some step by step photos to help illustrate the process.
Enter Thom. I wanted to photograph and document this process without putting an actual cancer patient through the additional time and hassle. Thom volunteered to let me put a random nipple and areola on him so that I could document the process.
So here is Thom with his brand new nipple. We are going to add onto it later to make it more fun for him. Votes are still being cast – so if you have suggestions, please do pass them along!
If you know someone who is looking for more information on this type of tattooing – there is a section on the shop web page that explains a little more about it. It can be found by clicking on the pink breast cancer ribbon on the second page or by using this direct url http://www.whitetigertattoo.com/medical.html
Just TeeJay's Blog 
tee jay, what an awesome gift to be able to give someone that has gone through such an ordeal. i actually did not know about medically tattooing until two weeks ago when a friend showed me the work she had done. she had a bilat mastectomy, and could not get a reconstructed nipple grafted on, her skin would not accept. What a tremendous thing to be able to have this done, and hers look great. the 3-d aspect is really cool, and you wouldn’t know unless pretty close that it’s ‘painted’ on…
she has had some fading of the tattoo and wants it refreshed, can i give her your info? the artist who did her work traveled in to work with clients, unsure of main base of operations. gretchen
Gretchen – Please feel free to pass my info along to your friend.
If there is ever anything that I can do to help a woman feel comfortable after having gone through this – I would like to.
Also if your friend could pass along the contact info for the artist who did her tattooing, I would appreciate that as well. I am often asked for referrals for outside the area.
Thanks much! ~ TeeJay
You are an amazing person/talent Teej.I am proud to know ya!
Ryan, Thank you so much. That means an awful lot to me and I am very glad that we have crossed paths as well.
Thanks : )
TeeJay
you amaze me not only for your talent and artistic ways but you just are an amazing person.. ive told many people about your reconstructive tattoos đŸ™‚
Holly I’m going to send you an email…
[…] to let me photograph this process and install a new nipple for him on his arm. (Or you can see it HERE) This is the tattoo on Thom’s […]
[…] The original post on Thom is HERE […]
Omg have been looking for some guidance as I am a nurse that does nipple / areola tattooing and need some more guidance to improve on my skill and haven’t known who to turn to and yours looks amazing!! Would love to know what pigments you use and if u teach anywhere .,
Cindy, feel free to email me and we can talk about any questions that you have. Email address is teejay1(insert-at-symbol)frontiernet.net
I’m using a special line of pigments from Eternal and I can explain to you how to get them.