Bradford tattooist covering up scars to help heal trauma

A West Yorkshire tattooist has been helping people who have undergone surgery cover up their scarring.

Lucy Thompson, from Bradford, is a medical tattoo artist who has provided restorative body art after operations.

Her work has ranged from permanent 3D effect nipples, to toenails and designs to cover scalp scars.

Rebecca Saunders, who had a tattoo over a head and neck scar, said afterwards she no longer felt like "Frankenstein".

Ms Saunders said she just wanted to heal, "to be past it".

Ms Thompson founded the Nipple Innovation Project - a charity offering free permanent 3D nipple tattoos - after hearing what her aunt, Pamela McCrone, had gone through, following a cancer diagnosis.

Ms McCrone, who had a single mastectomy after suffering from breast cancer, was given a permanent nipple tattoo by Ms Thompson.

However, she said the decision was not easy as the temporary one she had through the NHS had "hurt so much".

Ms McCrone said: "Cancer takes everything away, you have to go with whatever it is - so by saying I will have a tattoo, it took ownership back."

Ms Thompson said a tattoo over a scar gave the wearer "an opportunity to take control of their bodies and their lives on their own terms".

She said it was "an empowering way to create something beautiful".

Rebecca Saunders had a large scar on her scalp following operations for a 10-year chronic condition which affected her brain and spine and, as she faced no further surgeries, she chose a symbolic tattoo to cover it.

She said the tattoo symbolised mind and thought, because it was "going to take a lot of mind power to get over this trauma".

After seeing the tattoo, the 36-year-old from Bradford, said: "I don't feel like Frankenstein anymore."

Speaking about the psychological benefit of covering a scar with a tattoo, psychotherapist and spokesperson for the UK Council for Psychotherapy, Erene Hadjiioannou, said it could have a "profound impact".

Ms Hadjiioannou said for a lot of people "just being able to look at their body in a way that maybe they struggled to is a way of being able to connect with yourself a little more comfortably, and that is often something which trauma can take away from somebody".

Ms Thompson said she saw the work she does from her studio in Cullingworth as something which created a "positive sign of growth and enlightenment", which replaced "negative reminders of trauma and emotional turmoil".

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