a conversation with Lucy Thompson
Almost 8 years ago, Lucy Thompson was working as a tattoo artist when her Aunt had breast cancer. Following a mastectomy, her aunt received semi-permanent nipple tattoos.
“I started the charity because my Auntie’s cancer journey motivated me to drive change. She’d received mastectomy tattoos by her surgeon in theatres and had a really unpleasant experience. She found it incredibly painful – more so than a usual tattoo, and it healed really poorly. It eventually all scabbed and faded away within a few months, but she couldn’t face going back again. She said at one point she couldn’t face looking at her own body because of it.
The standard procedure for people who have had reconstructive surgery following a mastectomy is for them to receive a tattoo from their surgeon or nurse. They do the best that they can but ultimately they are only required to do a 2 day training course. Learning to tattoo is a huge commitment that ultimately can’t be learned in 2 days to achieve the best results.”
As a tattoo artist herself at the time, Lucy started researching it and eventually went to Texas to learn how to do 3D nipple tattoos. “I came back and started doing them for free for anyone who wanted them post-surgery. It got to the point where there was a huge waiting list but I could only do so much especially as a single mum working for free. Both sides of my family have done a lot of charity work so I thought ‘why don’t I start a charity to cover the cost of peoples’ mastectomy tattoos and build a directory of trained artists?’ There were people that would travel hours to my studio in Bradford, but not everyone has the luxury of being able to do that, so I wanted it to be accessible to people who need it all over the country.”
That was nearly 8 years ago, and now NiP are partnered with Bradford Teaching Hospitals, providing their patients with mastectomy tattoos. “There’s a surgeon at the trust who is a huge advocate for the service, because it’s a relief for them and a better outcome for the patient – they don’t want to be doing it if they can help it. They are incredibly skilled people and amazing at what they do, but tattooing is a craft that takes years to master. We’ve got a few other NHS trusts we’re looking at partnering with soon but we really need to raise awareness to our work to make sure we have the capacity to support them.”
Unfortunately NiP do face their challenges – with their social media posts often flagged for sexual content and nudity and their reach limited as a result, the message can be difficult to get in front of the right people. “It’s not even a nipple! It’s a tattoo!”
Lucy also wants tattooing to be taken seriously for the highly skilled craft that it is. She faced stigma when she first started offering free nipple tattoos because of people’s preconceived notions about her as a heavily tattooed woman. “People told me when I first started that no one would want to come to my studio because they would think there’d be big scary bikers there. The studio is actually such a beautiful, private and relaxing place on a farm in the countryside. I’m proud of my craft and I’m proud of the work that I do. People shouldn’t judge me or underestimate what I can achieve just because I have tattoos.”
Lucy’s goal is for NiP to be the ultimate provider for nipple tattoos in the UK. “I know it’s bold, but I never thought we’d partner with the NHS, so I had to up my goal!”. She wants breast cancer survivors to be empowered to reclaim ownership of their bodies with the help of highly skilled professionals who can give them the quality of work they deserve. “After such emotionally taxing journeys, it’s the least they deserve.”
Lucy is hoping to do more events to raise awareness of her work and the current situation for breast cancer patients and we will continue to cheer her and the team on. Visit their website and follow along their journey so you can spread the word about their incredible work: nipcharity.org
Thanks to Lucy Thompson and Nipple Innovation Project (NiP).
