Javier de Arriba García-Loygorri, who has been tattooing for eight years, four of them in his own studio, gets excited every time he has to work on coloring a skin ravaged by the consequences of breast cancer and sown with scars after a reconstruction.
Their work is therapeutic ‘tattoos’ because, according to the testimony of who has put themselves in their hands, these women increase their self-esteem when they see their body in the mirror, which before they only looked sideways, as if not wanting to see it, they have an important psychological effect because they conceive it as the end of a long and difficult process that they have had to go through and that now closes after recovering the nipples and areolas or covering the furrows of the surgery with colored flowers, outlined with a machine that this 32-year-old skin illustrator handles with his hands. The emotion is mutual, at the end of the session, they both cry.
Josefina Pérez Miguelañez, 60 years old, mastectomized fifteen years ago, after operations and micropigmentation, which ends up erasing, points out that she preferred to see herself in a different way “because it affects you psychologically when you look in the mirror, even if only from the corner of your eye. [de los tatuajes] it gives you a major boost of life well-being.
When breast cancer is confirmed and the results of the tests fall on a woman, a significant psychological trauma occurs. Later, in the opinion of Josefina Pérez «you are assuming things to be able to have a well-being of life, until you see yourself recomposed in some way you have to go through more reconstruction operations, dare to them, that this is also another trance, after having overcome cancer somehow.
He had met Javier de Arriba through his daughter, to whom a friend told him that he did this type of work, she came to see him, always in a pleasant and comfortable environment, he acknowledges: «It is difficult for them to make you stand out as a nipple, even having it, although they do operations on you they don’t reach that volume, the feeling I have right now with both of them is very good, I’m very happy, everything is quite settled, not only because of what they tell me but, above all, in how I feel ».
This woman assumes what she lacks but now recognizes, for example, that she feels better when it comes to going to a gym, “where you take off clothes and somehow you don’t hide, you change more freely, you feel more complete , it is a psychological change (…?) I feel how I am, what I am, I may lack what I lack but I admit it, I have reached that reconstruction and the final point is to put the nipple, the tattoo, psychologically influences To be better”.
Ana Marcos, 56 years old, operated at 45, with a bilateral mastectomy, affirms that «from looking at yourself in the mirror and seeing your whole chest full of scars to observing it in this way [sembrado de flores] It is like going from zero to one hundred, I am delighted, if you do not like a dress you do not put it on again but it is your body, you look at yourself every day in the mirror, and you have it there, now it is very nice to see it decorated ».
After the surgery, Marcos acknowledges, who also tried micropigmentation – public health is not in charge of it – but it only lasted three years. The scars affect him psychologically: «People notice a lot, when you go shopping for clothes they influence you because before you molded your chest, now it’s what you buy if it fits you well, it’s okay …; You have to assimilate it little by little, my self-esteem is better, now I can go to the beach and go topless and they will not tell me ‘look at that breast surgery’, as I have already heard, it has been a very important step ».
Like Josefina, Marcos admits to being delighted because, in his opinion, “it is looking at yourself in the mirror and feeling good, pretty girl, even though you know what you have, but it is different to see your chest in a way than it is beautiful, with elegant drawings, in my house we are all delighted ». Both also coincide in the work carried out by Javier de Arriba, in addition to being totally altruistic, he does not charge for his work with these mastectomized women. Ana Marcos maintains that «he is a person who does us a great favor, if they know someone [que quiere recibir información al respecto] I inform them, I have no problem ».
The world of tattooing has changed, says Javier de Arriba García-Loygorri, who maintains a traditional, custom, personalized tattoo line, the profile is very broad, from 17 to 72 years old, the age of one of the last people who passed Due to its study, there are no distinctions, neither by ideologies or social classes.
In this case, the work fills his spirit, he recognizes while valuing the confidence of these women after drawing a profile of himself: «They come and see a person with dreadlocks, shaved hair, when they have never had a tattoo, let them have that undressing, doing it is a very emotional and respectful process, the connection between them and me is brutal, when we get a design, when we finish, they get excited and transmit it to me, we both end up crying ». He has already performed these tattoos on six women in sessions of two or three mornings, always “after talking a lot with them, being very tactful, giving it courage because you come across operations that have been aggressive, that they are calm is very important.”
She stresses that she does not want to earn money with this job, but “that they feel good and know that I am helping people who need it to make them look symmetrical and beautiful, it makes them happy, they say ‘the scars have already healed’, now I can wear something nice that when I’m naked I am happy with myself, that I look beautiful … “, she admits while qualifying these women as” brave, they fight a lot, they are geniuses, with all the bad things they have gone through , they are cheerful and happy, what better way to do them a little more, personally it fills my spirit, I go home with money and I go away with anxiety, and doing this for free means being well one day of my life, that is worth more than everything what I can win.
The first time he did this type of work, he was thinking of getting paid but, as he progressed, he thought that it was priceless, that it should be a gift for these women, to make them feel happy, “it was pure chance.”
“Aesthetics is important, but life mattered to me before”
The doctor Concepción Manrique, secretary of the Spanish Association against Cancer (AECC) in Segovia, speaks from the experience after being operated on for breast cancer, 20 years ago: «Fundamentally it is to close a cycle, they made me a radical mastectomy, now they do much less, medicine has advanced a lot; When I was four years old, I had a breast reconstruction and the impression you have is that something is missing, I am delighted, I had a fantastic surgery, they removed part of the fat from my gut, but you have a breast that is not the same as another, it will never be the same, get the micropigmentation, the areola and the nipple, it was the closing of the cycle, I can’t forget about cancer, that breast is not the same as the other one, you have to keep going through the revisions, but aesthetically it means saying: Everything is done, [tema] closed!”. Manrique, also secretary general of the College of Physicians of Segovia, acknowledges that what worried him above all «was survival, my cancer was one of the worst, but I imagine that women, from what you talk to them, aesthetics yes They are concerned, it is not pleasant to see you without a breast and then without something that is aesthetically important (…) but the breast is a very important organ for women, not only physical and erotic, but also has a very important function. important as breastfeeding, it is hard to see that you are missing a very important part, apart from the fact that there are women who feel rejected by their partner ».
He adds that aesthetic reconstruction “on a psychological level is fundamental because they are more comfortable and complete, they lack nothing.” Now, in the opinion of this doctor, who admits that she has not had psychological affectation either from cancer or for the four years that she has not seen herself every day without a breast, there are women who leave the operating room with the reconstruction done. It also draws attention to lymphedema, a pathology that is very important and limits the ability of women to work as it is a side effect that originates when they remove the lymph nodes from the armpit to those who operate on breast cancer. Although it is not exclusive because it can also affect those who operate for colon cancer and remove the groin. The inflammation of the arm produces limitations at the work level in some women, now it is operated, as was the case, through public health, but in Barcelona, because in this Community it is not done.
“The woman must have information”
Emilia Cierlitzka, psychologist at the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) in Segovia, starts from the importance of each woman having individualized and understandable information on the physical and psychological consequences of breast reconstruction, before making a decision about breast reconstruction. operation, facilitated by the health personnel or the multidisciplinary team that takes you.
That they be provided with photographic material of the results of the different surgical procedures, involving them in making the decision and if they want a breast reconstruction with a tattoo or after a graft, «with the more information they have, the less fears they will have and the decision will be more accurate, “he clarifies. According to this professional, from a scientific point of view, “breast reconstruction is not the universal panacea for the emotional and psychological consequences of mastectomy, it is above all necessary to take into account two specific issues, the expectations that move a woman to make the decision to perform reconstructive surgery and the level of satisfaction with the process carried out ».
Hence, there are women who opt for breast reconstruction because they do not want to use an external breast prosthesis and benefit from different uses of clothing, although there is also the issue related to bodily integrity: «Do not be mutilated by the mastectomy, feel feminine again , more balanced, helps them forget that they are victims of cancer and maintain emotional health, “admits Cierlitzka.
According to the psychologist, mastectomy affects many women who suffer from breast cancer, but not in all cases. He emphasizes that they know that «the breast is a symbol of femininity or motherhood, in the end these women need to prepare and adapt to these changes, without a doubt, it affects their state of mind, self-esteem and way of relating to others, it is important if they are young , has a partner and relationships, giving more importance to reconstruction.
Cierlitzka values the role played within the association by the doctor Concepción Manrique, who clarifies doubts to many women and shows them visual information, because, she insists, “there are many times that this information does not arrive and we start the fantasy and think how It will be, but you have to say how it will be and explain.
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