AFTER MASTECTOMY · RECONSTRUCTION · REDUCTION
3D Areola Restoration
A realistic areola and nipple, drawn in pigment with light and shadow. Flat to the touch, natural to the eye.
WHAT IT IS
The finishing step
Reconstruction rebuilds the breast. It cannot bring back the areola, and surgical nipple reconstruction does not always hold its shape. A 3D areola tattoo replaces both with pigment: custom-mixed to your skin, shaded so the nipple reads as raised, sized and placed to match the other side or to sit naturally on a bilateral reconstruction.
It is done in the studio, under numbing, in about two hours per visit. Most clients need two visits, six to eight weeks apart. The result softens a little as it heals, which is why the second visit exists.
photo pending client release
WHO IT IS FOR
Any of these, and more
After mastectomy with implant or flap reconstruction, one side or both.
After nipple-sparing surgery where colour faded or went uneven.
After reduction or lift where the areola scarred, shrank, or lost pigment.
Gender-affirming top surgery, sized and placed to the chest you have now.
Correction of an earlier areola tattoo that healed too flat, too pink, or in the wrong place.
Naturally light or uneven areolas you would like balanced.
THE VISIT
What to expect
STEP 1
Consultation
We look at the reconstruction together, talk about size, colour and placement, and check timing with your surgeon's guidance. If you have a photo of how you looked before, bring it. We match to that.
STEP 2
First session
Numbing, then the drawing: outline, base colour, shading for the nipple, highlights. About two hours. You leave with aftercare instructions and a dressing.
STEP 3
Refinement
Six to eight weeks on, the colour has settled and the skin has healed. A shorter visit deepens tone and finishes detail. Colour lasts years; a light refresh every few years keeps it true.
COST AND COVERAGE
Often reimbursable after mastectomy
Nipple and areola tattooing after mastectomy is treated as part of breast reconstruction under the Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act of 1998, and many private plans reimburse it, though each plan sets its own rules about who may perform it. We do not bill insurance directly. You pay the studio, and we give you an itemised receipt with the procedure codes your plan expects, so you can file a claim. The full reimbursement walkthrough is here.
Pricing is set at the consultation, once we know whether it is one side or two and how much correction is involved.
QUESTIONS
Things people ask first
THE LAST STEP
Let's talk about it
Bring your questions to a private consultation. Partners and friends are welcome.