Women get tattoos for a whole host of different reasons. Sometimes it’s to express themselves through body art; other times it’s to memorialize a family member that’s no longer alive. In some cases, though, ink actually serves a health purpose: Tattoos can be used to do everything from camouflage serious burns to mask the scars from breast cancer surgery—all of which can help women regain their confidence after a traumatic accident or health crisis.
Basma Hameed, whose face was badly burned by hot oil in a kitchen accident when she was just two years old, has become an expert in medical corrective tattooing. "After having three failed eyebrow-hair transplants, I decided to get permanent eyebrows tattooed," she told Mic.com in January. "I saw the result immediately. I was so happy that I thought to myself, 'Why not do the same procedure using skin tone pigments on my scar tissue to camouflage the discoloration?' At the time, no one had heard of anything like it, and no one wanted to take the risk."
Now, she’s using her skills as a medical tattoo artist to help women in situations similar to hers, with clinics in Toronto and Chicago. Here she is on CBC News helping a young woman who whose face, neck, and arms were scarred after bullies threw boiling water on her:
Basma also helps patients with vitiligo, a disease that causes skin to lose color in blotches, by using flesh-toned tattoo ink.
Meanwhile, Samantha Bennett, a 39-year-old bacterial meningitis survivor, visited tattoo artist Tim Hendricks in 2011 to conceal scars on her arm caused by the rare disease.
Samantha, who got a tattoo of a woman inside a butterfly, told WomensHealthMag.com in April that her story, which was featured on the TLC reality show NY Ink, has inspired others. “One lady came up to me at a festival and said, ‘I just want to tell you that you rock and I love you,’” Samantha told us. “Her daughter was burned and scarred from head to toe [in a fire], and she said she saw my story and felt so inspired.”
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Tattoos are also a way that some women cover up scars from double mastectomy surgery. Juanita Williams is one such woman—she recently got this gorgeous angel wing design on her chest from tattoo artist Shane Wallin at Garnet Tattoo in San Diego:
Watch this: inspiring NBC San Diego story on Garnet Tattoo's Shane Wallin and Juanita's amazing ink. Proud to be working with you guys! https://vimeo.com/122313787
“For mastectomy work, there’s a restorative quality, and it’s something that’s been taken away that you’re giving back," said Wallin in an interview with NBC San Diego. "You’re giving someone self-esteem, you’re giving them confidence, and you’re making them feel sexy again.”
There are plenty of super cool mastectomy tattoo ideas on Pinterest:
[post_ads]Women with alopecia, an autoimmune disease that causes hair loss, are even getting henna tattoos, which last one to three weeks, on their heads. In 2011, San Francisco photographer Frances Darwin founded the organization Henna Heals to empower women suffering from hair loss. The organization also works with women who've had hair loss from cancer treatments. Frances has partnered with more than 250 henna artists, who all create stunning henna crowns like the two below (henna done by artists Tarquin Singh and Joanne Rumstein-Ellis, respectively):
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Katerina Shaverova
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Katerina Shaverova
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It just goes to show how truly powerful tattoos can be. Pretty remarkable,
isn't it?
