(Newswire.net — April 6, 2018) — Medical tattoos became a way to disguise surgical scars on skin, but an artist from Kansas is doing more.
3D tattooist from Kansas City helps women who had their areola surgically removed by painting a photorealistic 3D tattoo that covers the scar tissue. Breast cancer survivors find comfort in a way they could never have imagined, 41 KSHB, the CNN affiliate in Kansas City, reports.
Tim Cox, a medical tattooist helped breast cancer survivor Boyle-Townsend to feel better about herself.
“I couldn’t look in the mirror. I didn’t want to share it with anybody,” KSHB cited Boyle-Townsend. “I had a husband who was coming home from Afghanistan who hadn’t seen me. It was devastating.”
It is not just another tattoo, it is a very complex work of body art because it has to be as realistic as it can. Thanks to Cox, it makes women feel whole again. “This was bringing back the wholeness of feeling like a woman again,” said Boyle-Townsend.
Those two circles make all the difference in the world for a woman who has suffered breast cancer and even if it is a graphic display, Cox made it so precise it helps women feel less insecure and hurt.
“It’s just like painting,” Cox said. “It’s all about measuring and deciding where your light source is.” For a 3D tattoo the light source is crucial, but it changes depending on many variables. Regardless of inconsistency of the light, Cox’s tattoos appear better than Boyle-Townsend could imagine.
“It was a complete surprise,” she said adding that when she saw the work she felt like “Christmas morning.”
Cox understood the significance of his work when his wife Dara got a breast cancer diagnosis. Dara passed away but Cox discovered the need for areola tattoos and said he sought medical tattoo training.
“It was a horrible experience,” Cox said. “But I wouldn’t have traded that for never meeting her,” he explained why he chose to do the medical tattoos.