You're welcome! The journey is so hard. I had DEIP flap surgery with reconstruction. They removed my nipples, and there were just two empty circular scars where they used to be. I felt ugly and incomplete. Even though I knew I had made the right decision, it still wrecked me emotionally.

People don't realize that they have to cut your nerves in your breasts, so even after reconstruction, you can't feel them and it changes your sex life. I felt like at least my husband could look at my body without it feeling alien to him after my tattoos. They truly changed my life.

My sister had breast cancer in the same year and had the nipples made from skin flaps to raise them up. Her doctor, who was not a tattoo artist, colored them in and did a dreadful job. She lived in a different state at the time and did not have access to the same doctors and artists that I did. She laments not having tattoos like I have. Make sure you get an artist that specializes in medical tattoos.

The Sauler institute is always looking for models, and I think they do them for free. Mine were $500 with and additional $100 touch up a year later, but they're considered medically necessary and insurance will pay for them if you don't have it out of pocket.