Can we get a tattoo rather than reconstruct the breast after cancer? Dr. Jean-François Lemoine disentangles the true from the false on tattooing after breast cancer by interviewing cancer surgeon Rémy Salmon.
With 59,000 cases detected and 12,000 deaths recorded each year, breast cancer is both the most frequent and the deadliest in women. For many patients affected by the disease, the treatment of breast cancer is also, when a mastectomy takes place, an attack on their femininity.
Deprived of one or both of their breasts, more and more breast cancer survivors are turning to tattooing in order to reclaim their body and regain their femininity. But can a tattoo, however aesthetic it may be, replace breast reconstruction?
For Dr Rémy Salmon, cancer surgeon and breast cancer specialist, tattooing cannot replace breast reconstruction. Questioned by Dr Jean-François Lemoine, he reminds us that a tattoo cannot bring the same volume as a reconstruction. “If you simply tattoo, it will result in a flat tattoo” that may “fade” over time.
Breast reconstruction via a prosthesis makes it possible, unlike tattooing alone, to restore the appearance and shape of the breast. Hence the predilection for reconstruction for many patients, with the placement of a prosthesis or tissue (skin and muscles) under the skin.
What about the nipple? Like the areola, it can also be reconstructed from a piece of the patient’s skin or nipple, explains Dr. Salmon. “There are different techniques that give volume,” says the specialist. “Knowing that by reconstructing a nipple, it will restore volume but unfortunately not restore sensitivity, which is a bit disappointing.”
3D tattooing, a new technique full of promise
Dr. Salmon also mentions 3D tattooing as a technique for reconstructing the nipple and areola. This artistic technique from the United States and which “is like a trompe-l’oeil”, is intended to complement breast reconstruction.
In France, only a salon opened by tattoo artist Alexia Cassar, currently offers to recreate nipples and nipples as realistic as possible. “The main difference with the classic reconstruction tattoo or medical tattoo lies in the pigments used. In the case of the 3D reconstruction tattoo, the same pigments are used as those used in tattoo parlors. They are permanent pigments – safe and monitored- which, unlike labile medical pigments used in hospitals, or pigments used for semi-permanent make-up in salons, will not fade over time. It is therefore a definitive act that allows ex-patients to return to their lives”, explains Alexia Cassar to Marie Claire.
For Dr. Salmon, this technique is effective if you do not want to go through nipple reconstruction, which is often painful because it involves removing pieces of skin to graft them onto the breast. “With the 3D tattoo, we visually recreate the volumes”, adds Alexia Cassar.
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