According to the Canadian Cancer Society, 1 in 8 Canadian cisgendered women will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives, and 1 in 33 will die from it. In 2020, 25% of all cancers in Canadian cisgendered women was a form of breast cancer, with approximately 27,400 women diagnosed and 240 cisgendered men also diagnosed.
Breast cancer is unfortunately quite a common form of cancer, and mainly affects cisgendered women. Often a breast cancer diagnoses leads to a mastectomy. A mastectomy is a surgery that removes part or all of the breast. There are 5 kinds of mastectomy surgeries including; “Simple” or “total” mastectomy, modified radical mastectomy, radical mastectomy, partial mastectomy, and subcutaneous (nipple-sparing) mastectomy.
For years now people who undergo various forms of mastectomies have turned to tattooing to either cover the area after it is healed, or in some cases recreate what they looked like before the mastectomy.
Many tattoo artists even specialize in mastectomy tattoos, either covering the whole area with an image, or nipple and/or breast recreation. Many people who decide to get tattooed after a mastectomy opt for some form of cancer awareness piece, such as the breast cancer awareness ribbon with flowers or a butterfly, or something that they find beautiful to help them deal with the trauma they’ve been through.
Some tattoo artists also offer to do mastectomy tattoos for free if they have some sort of personal connection to it, but those who specialize in this type of work always do a great job.
You can donate to the Canadian Cancer Society here.
Edited by Harrison R.
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