Healing art: Tattooist helps breast cancer survivors

THE HOOD INSTITUTE

William Harris, founder of the Hood Institute and owner of Charlotte Tattoo, draws an areola on a client. Clients from as far as Colorado have visited Harris for medical tattoos, which produces a three-dimensional image that replicates the areola and nipple after breast surgery.

What breast surgery takes away, William Harris re-creates with ink.

Harris, owner of Charlotte Tattoo on Central Avenue, has been an artist for 27 years. His latest project is the Hood Institute, a nonprofit medical art facility that specializes in areola tattoos. The clientele is predominantly breast cancer survivors but people of both genders and medical experiences have sought his art, which is covered by health insurance.

“I would say it is probably 60% white [women] and 40% Black women,” Harris said. “I also have worked on some trans men. I’ve worked on some women who have not undergone breast cancer, but actually had breast augmentation, where within that surgery, something has gone wrong with the healing of the areola. Maybe a part of it kind of had to be cut off or cut out, so I’ve gone in and tattooed to make it look like it's full again.” 

Earica Wall can attest to Harris' talent. A four-time breast cancer survivor, the student housing manager underwent surgery in 2021 and lost her self-esteem as well as her areolas at age 48. A student whose mother is a survivor suggested she reach out to Harris.

“I had first been diagnosed when I was 26 but it was just a long road, and I could not afford to get the areola tattoos because I was under the impression that I could still keep my nipples,” she said. “Unfortunately, that was not the case. So of course, I was a little down and a little depressed, because, of course, as a woman, if you don't have breasts, you don't feel like a woman.”  

Unlike traditional tattoos, areola art requires refined skills and approaches. Specially prepared inks and needles are used to draw in details that replicate the nipple and areola. Clients often provide photos to help with the replication process. Also, repairing breast tissue requires understanding skin structure.

“It’s a different technique from traditional tattooing, because you’re dealing with skin that has been has gone through possibly radiation, chemo,” Harris said. “A lot of trauma has gone into that area of the body, especially if women have had spacers put in, have had implants put in. You’re dealing with skin that is very shallow. You don’t have a lot of muscle and a lot of fatty tissue under it, so you have to be very gentle working that area.” 

Areola art is relatively new in the United States compared to Europe, Harris said. He sought out the expertise of Vicky Martin, a tattooist and micropigmentation medical artist to train.

THE HOOD INSTITUTE

William Harris takes client referrals from doctors as well as direct outreach from patients who've undergone breast surgery or augmentation. Medical tattoos are covered by insurance, Harris says.

“I couldn’t find anyone really to give me the training that I wanted for myself in the States, so I ended up finding a woman in Europe who thankfully was coming over to Boston,” he said. 

Returning the look of intact breasts is as much about body image as art and science. Clients who have endured a loss of self-esteem are looking for a path to feel better about their physical appearance and mental well-being.

“My God, I can’t sing his praises enough,” Wall said. “I told everybody, and now I’m out here  flashing. I know that’s crazy to say, but he did such an amazing job that’s how confident [I am] they look like they’re mine, like nobody can tell it’s a 3D tattoo.”

Said Harris: “A lot of what I hear, it’s an emotional journey women have, and men for that case, have gone through a lot of surgeries, a lot of emotional kind of stresses throughout the past probably couple years to get to the point to where they come to see me,” Harris said. “A lot of what the women have expressed is that they want to feel whole again, and they want to feel like they’re beautiful again. 

“I tell them that you are beautiful even without this. But in their mind, a part of them is missing something that was very important to them. I think that it’s one of those things where from a woman’s point of view, her sexuality, her femininity a lot of times, is associated with body image.”

Harris wants to expand Hoover Institute’s service to include helping clients navigate insurance reimbursement and working with doctors on referrals. The results – and clients’ reaction to them – are immediately worthwhile. 

“The best thing I always hear is when they tell me ‘the first time I got out of the shower and walked past the mirror and saw myself with areolas again,’ it’s just a very emotional experience,” he said. “And it’s also when I tattoo them, the first time they get up out of the chair and look in the mirror, a lot of times there’s tears behind that.”

Wall, who is cancer free, swears by the art that helped her heal.

“He is absolutely amazing,” she said. “The only thing I can relate him to is he is anointed, because he did not make me feel any other kind of way but beautiful. He didn’t make any comments. He was, ‘oh, [the surgeons] did a great job. You have the great canvas. This is going to be amazing.’ And it was absolutely amazing.” 

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