Alexia Cassar Brings Wholeness Back to Breast Cancer Survivors One Nipple at a Time
As if the experience of breast cancer itself weren’t devastating enough for a woman, the disease attacks her very sense of self and femininity, especially if she needs a mastectomy. Although many women choose to undergo breast reconstruction after mastectomy, the procedure isn’t complete because surgeons can’t create a realistic looking nipple.
Enter Alexia Cassar, 43, who lives in Marly-la-Ville, a village in north Paris. Three years ago, Cassar quit her job as an oncology researcher to apprentice herself to a tattoo artist and learn the complex art of 3-D nipple tattooing. In the process, she also learned how to restore a woman’s sense of self.
“The effects of breast cancer and its treatment on a woman’s professional, personal, and intimate lives is huge and often misunderstood,” she said. “Women lose their hair, lashes, brows, breast, body shape, and above all, self-confidence. They can feel disconnected from their bodies.”
After cancer treatment ends, she said, family, friends, the medical community, and society push women to move forward and take control of their lives. “But as long as they do not feel completely confident in themselves, there is a kind of barrier they cannot overcome and they can stay stuck in this ‘after cancer’ world,” she said. The cancer may be gone, she said, but women often feel as if their body has been through war zone.”
Experiencing Cancer Firsthand
Cassar’s transition from cancer biologist to tattoo artist began in 2013 when her 10-month-old daughter was diagnosed with acute myeloblastic leukemia, requiring months of intensive chemotherapy and almost two years of follow up. “I had been projected into the reality of the concerns of cancer patients’ relatives and now had to rethink my contribution in health care,” she said.
She found her calling when she saw the work of Vinnie Myers, an American tattoo artist who developed 3-D nipple tattooing process 15 years before. “It was like a secret call to me,” she said.
Although popular in the US, the technique, also called micropigmentation, had yet to arrive in Europe. Cassar set out to change that. She spent a year learning about breast reconstruction from surgeons, then quit her job to spend a year apprenticed to a tattoo master. A year later, unable to find the training she needed for the 3-D nipple tattoos in France, she flew to San Antonio, Texas for more training. Overall, she spent more than 2,500 hours training to master the craft of tattooing over radiated, surgically grafted skin and scar tissue.
Rebuilding Survivors’ Self Esteem
Cassar opened the Tétons Tattoo Shop in September 2017 in Paris, the first tattoo parlor in the country dedicated to providing nipple tattoos to breast cancer survivors or, as she puts it, “to rebuilding breast cancer survivors’ self-esteem after a mastectomy.” Unlike medical tattoos, which need to be redone every year, this type of tattoo is permanent, she said. “It’s a breakthrough advance for cancer patients.”
“Creating the image of a personalized, realistic, and above all, permanent, nipple is a way for women to accept their reconstructed breast as a part of them,” she said. In a way, she acts like midwife guiding the return of their self-esteem and femininity.
Since opening her parlor, she has tattooed almost 600 breast cancer survivors, including seven men. She is working with the National Tattoo Artist Syndicate to have breast tattooing recognized as an artistic alternative to surgery, and to have the national and private health care system cover the costs. Ten private payers currently cover the procedure, she said.
Understanding a Woman’s Journey
Cassar typically connects with clients online, who send photos so she can see if she can help (survivors require at least a year of healing after their last round of surgery and radiotherapy; two years if they also want a tattoo to hide their scars). She also contacts their physician to ensure there are no contraindications to the procedure.
When she meets them, they talk first about the woman’s cancer journey. “I need to understand all its steps to evaluate her skin status later,” she said. Then she explains the procedure, takes photos, and draws a template of the nipple.
One of the greatest challenges is determining the correct color, which won’t be clear until the tattoo is healed in three or four weeks. She carefully examines the woman’s skin tone, moles, freckles, and hairline while also considering the effects of radiation, the fragility of the skin, the type of reconstruction used, and the woman’s healing before deciding on a color. She also warns patients that they may need a touch up later if the color isn’t perfect.
It takes 30 to 45 minutes to complete a nipple. There is usually very little pain as the area typically has little sensation after surgery.
“Once they discover the result in the mirror, we all feel a lot of joy and relief,” she said.
She treats about 300 clients a year. But she knows the need is much greater given that about 6,000 women in France undergo reconstruction after mastectomy each year. So, she plans to start training apprentices and create a national network of specialized artists to provide the tattoos.
She is also hoping to partner with surgeons to conduct a clinical study on the procedure and is now working on a documentary about her work and what it means to the women she treats.
“They just want to feel whole again.”
Alexia Cassar
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_alx_c_/channel/ or https://www.instagram.com/the_tetons_tattoo_shop/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexia-cassar-620aab1b/?originalSubdomain=fr
Leave a Reply