Hi there ladies
2 years on from mastectomy and I am finally having a nipple made from my skin this coming Tuesday. It has been a long wait which included an uplift on other breast and a change of implant on missing breast. I understand that the new nipple will eventually go flat but it will be wonderful to finally have a “face” on my breast again instead of a bumpy mound.
Does anyone know how long you have to wait for the tatooing? It is strange how none of my friends understand why I have not been away on holiday since the initial op. I seem to have lost confidence in case anyone should see me naked. Silly I know. Would appreciate any feedback.
Chris
Hi, I had my nipple op in Feb but had problems with one side of the scar healing. I was offered the tattooing around 3 months after that, but because the scar was still quite dark in colour I postponed it. I have since had another two ops so more or less postponed it indefinitely. So although I haven’t actually had the tattooing done that might help with your time scales. To be honest even having the nipple has made such a difference to “finishing” off the new breast, so I understand exactly what you mean about anyone seeing you without clothes on! Hope your op goes well
Take care
K M x
Thanks for your reply. So its around 3 months. Just heard yesterday that op is now canelled - a familiar occurance for me as another op was cancelled 3 times. Hope this happens sometime this year. I hope that all goes well with you.
Regards Chris
I’m still untattooed on my left nipple and will have another revision soon. I’m a very slow healer in regards to fading scars, so perhaps another year of waiting me. The top tattoo artist in the world for nipple tattooing is Vinnie Myers (US), This is his response:
Timing of nipple tattooing depends on what type of surgery you had and the location of the incisions/scars. If the mastectomy scar isn’t across the middle of the breast, across the area where the nipple would be, you should wait until at least 12 weeks post-surgery. If there is a mastectomy scar across where your nipple would be, or if you’ve had nipple reconstruction, you should wait until a minimum of 20 weeks (5 months) post-surgery. Consult with your tattoo artist to make sure your skin is healed enough to be tattooed — someone who has experience with nipple tattooing should be able to tell if the skin is ready (Vinnie has found that 5 months post-surgery is the soonest healed skin should be tattooed). If the skin isn’t ready, the tattoos take longer to heal and give poorer results. In general, the longer you wait, the better your results.
There is only one tattoo artist that Vinne Myers recommends (particularly for 3D tattooing) in the UK and that person is Richard Burley . This is not paid for by the NHS and I have no idea what his pricings are.