Euriell, after having discussed at length with his tattoo artist Odji chose to have a horse / fish tattooed on her breast.

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Nathalie Kaid / ink sisters association

  • The Bordeaux association Sisters Ink offers women who suffer from the stigma left by breast cancer to turn to tattooing, after medical advice.

  • 20 Minutes

    interviewed three women who have used restorative tattooing and who explain how it has allowed them to rebuild themselves.

"A resurrection", "a real reconstruction", "almost a miracle", the words are very strong to describe the transformation that the tattoo has triggered in them.

Three women passed through the ordeal of breast cancer testify to

20 Minutes of the

good that they made the choice to adorn

a tattoo

this intimate and traumatized area, whether it be on a breast reconstruction or the scars of a mastectomy.

They were helped by the Bordeaux association Sisters Ink (see box) which works with a network of around fifty tattoo artists.

Joé chose a scarab, carefully drawn by Juliette.

- Nathalie Kaid / ink sisters association

For these three women, there is initially a suffering and the feeling of a void to fill.

"I felt so bad about myself in relation to this breast that I decided to take the plunge even if at the beginning I was too old to get a tattoo", says Joé, 64, who has just been tattooed. by Juliette, from Atelier 105 bis, a few days ago.

She opted for a scarab on a reconstructed breast sixteen years earlier.

“For a year I didn't look at myself while I walked in front of the mirror,” recalls 42-year-old Euriell, who had a mastectomy in 2017 and a horse / fish tattoo in 2019 by tattoo artist Odji, from the Headless Easel , on scarred tissue.

After a total mastectomy on both sides and the inability to rebuild for life, Frédérique, 51, has withdrawn a lot: “I spent two years locked up.

When I went out I put on huge scarves even in summer so that we wouldn't notice that there were no more breasts.

For two years I didn't look at myself in the mirror, I didn't go out, I no longer had a life ”.

She now has the bust adorned with a black mamba and peonies, after having passed under the expert hand of Amandine, from Madness Tatoo.

A "wow" effect

“From the moment there was the tattoo, in the head it was wow, on the body it was wow and darling, it was wow too!

», Enthuses Euriell, who explains that the tattoo fills a void and invites to touch.

Frédérique also measures the benefits of tattooing very quickly: “The next day I looked at myself in the mirror, which I had not done for two years,” she says.

People focus more on the tattoo than the rest and that makes me laugh.

»She still does not go to the beach or to the swimming pool but goes out to the café and considers that she has found" a normal life ".

She adds that her companion "has always been there" and had no trouble accepting his scars.

"It was I who couldn't stand him looking or touching."

Frédérique, who underwent a double mastectomy, was tattooed by Amandine with a snake and a flower on her bust.

- Nathalie Kaid / ink sisters association

For Joé it's all fresh but she already feels that her gaze on herself has changed.

“I look at myself with more pleasure in the mirror,” she says.

It's prettier than what's below.

She is very grateful to her tattoo artist for guiding her to make this scarab with three small lights in the belly which symbolize her children and six stars above which represent these grandchildren.

After a little time for reflection, she finally lets go: "in fact, I have already reclaimed my breast".

The only regret for her, that of not having taken the step sooner.

She recommends to all those who can medically rely on the good advice of the Sisters Ink Association.

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Collaboration with the medical community

The Sisters of Ink association has created a network that offers repairing tattoos in Bordeaux, Paris and Angoulême.

She is also godmother of the Volcaniques d'Auvergne association.

"We always work in close collaboration with the medical community and we are the only association of tattoos on scars which is, since 2019, referenced as supportive care in the guide" Life around "of the AFSOS (French-speaking association of ontological care support) ”, specifies Nathalie Kaïd, who founded Sisters of Ink.

Each year, the association offers an edition of RoseTatoo during Pink October, which brings together events around scar tattooing.

This 2020 edition has been postponed to 2021 due to the Covid-19 epidemic.

  • Tattoo

  • Breast cancer

  • Reconstruction

  • Aquitaine

  • Bordeaux