LAFAYETTE, La. — Tattoos serve as a means of self-expression for many, while for some survivors, they symbolize closure in the face of breast cancer.
KATC spoke with two women to learn more about the art of 3D areola restoration.
At Officially Bougie paramedical, located in Downtown Lafayette's Chase Tower, 38-year-old Ashley Green is undergoing a touch-up session. Diagnosed with breast cancer at 31, she underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy and a double mastectomy.
After discovering Officially Bougie last year, she wanted to try out 3D areola restoration.
“I looked up some pictures just to see what the 3D areola nipple tattooing would look like and I was hesitant because I felt like I overcame this obstacle.”
A procedure that creates the illusion of areolas for those who’ve had to go through mastectomies.
Green has been cancer free for seven years now and is happy with her body, but felt the need to finish the process.
"It's still a part of me but it's in the past," she says. "So those scars were kind of like I went through this, a reminder but as I'm closing chapters I figured to complete the reconstruction process and just go head and do it.”
That process is handled by Tassnique Prudhome, a paramedical tattoo artist who tattoos realistic areolas using color pigments, sizing graphs, and even photos of clients breasts before their cancer journey for those who are just left with the mastectomy scars.
“This is actually very very dear to my heart, it touches home tremendously I have family members right now who are victims and are still fighting for their life," Prudhome says.
Prudhome tells KATC she is just happy to help survivors like Green close the book on breast cancer.
“That’s when it becomes real when they actually when they take away the breasts and have to take away the nipples, that type of experience we can never replace but giving it back in such ways when I can tattoo that area making sure my client is good and it's nice and it is reclaiming who they were or once were.”
To read more about Officially Bougie and see photos of the 3D areola restoration, you can click here.
