The Mastectomy Tattooing Alliance (MTA) are a registered charity founded by Tanya Buxton in 2021, created to help support breast cancer survivors reclaim their bodies after mastectomy surgeries.
Areola tattoos are of huge significance and truly life changing, helping to mark the end of a breast cancer journey in order to embark on a new chapter of health and happiness. Unfortunately, information about this wonderful service and its talented artists is not always easily accessible to survivors. Many women are unaware of the options available to them after mastectomy surgeries and treatments are completed.
Our aim is to make these tattoos more widely available within the breast cancer community by building an organisation that will not only help fund the tattoo but would also connect them with experienced Mastectomy Tattooing Alliance artists approved by the MTA; ensuring peace of mind and a guarantee that their artist meets the required high level of skill, creativity and quality.
We are focused on raising awareness of the options available to survivors and making these tattoos more widely available for the breast cancer community.
Whether you choose to decorate your skin with a beautifully crafted tattoo design, or a natural, realistic 3D Areola Tattoo, the empowering possibilities through tattooing are endless. Unfortunately, these options are not always accessible for everyone after their surgeries and treatments are complete.
Tattooing can be expensive and finding the right artist can feel like an overwhelming task. This is why the Mastectomy Tattooing Alliance plays such an important role within the breast cancer community by providing funding and connections to those who need it.
There are Tattoo Artists out there who also kindly offer these services free of charge, at the artist’s own expense. The appointments can be limited and with so many survivors in need of this particular work, wait times for an appointment can be extremely long. The Mastectomy Tattooing Alliance will help relieve these long wait times by making funds readily available to MTA Artists and covering the cost of their time and equipment, resulting in more of these treatments being carried out by our artists.
This form of tattooing is extremely specialised and takes a great deal of tattooing experience and artistic skill to execute safely in the skin. It’s a skill that takes years to master. Inexperienced artists are more likely to cause trauma to the skin, resulting in a poor quality and badly healed tattoo. This is why it is so important to us that all our artists are trained to a high standard and that these standards are maintained.
Some hospitals provide Areola Tattoo services for survivors which is wonderful. However, lack of funding, education and limited resources mean it is often carried out by NHS and medical staff, who more often than not, have received minimal training in this specialised field. Whilst done with the best intention, these tattoos are often of poor quality and do not heal well in the skin. This is devastating for the client and can have a huge impact on their body confidence and mental wellbeing.
Most Areola Tattoos performed in hospitals are tattooed with ‘semi-permanent pigment’ meaning regular top up appointments are required year after year. Tattooing the skin repeatedly like this is not only incredibly damaging to the skin but can also be emotionally traumatic for the client too.
For this reason, it is vital that only experienced medical tattoo artists perform these tattoos with permanent ink. Medical Tattoo Artists have the experience, knowledge and quality equipment to execute these tattoos to their full potential, making them the perfect (and only) choice to carry out this life changing work.
There is more detailed information on the importance of permanent Areola Tattoos in our FAQ’s page.
Tanya began her career as a traditional tattoo artist in 2009. She has travelled worldwide working at various tattoo studios and conventions, establishing herself firmly within the tattoo industry.
With her love for beauty and makeup, she progressed into Cosmetic Tattooing in 2015, becoming a qualified Cosmetic and Medical Tattoo Artist. Tanya’s wide range of knowledge in traditional, cosmetic and medical tattooing make her a unique and highly skilled artist.
Her passion for tattooing, and in particular Areola Tattooing, has taken Tanya on this journey and has been the inspiration behind creating MTA; with one mission in mind, to help more survivors feel like themselves again.
Tanya also believes Medical and Areola Tattooing shouldn’t be taken lightly and that the training available should reflect this. She strives to improve the quality of training available, by providing detailed and in-depth training for tattoo artists. Traditional tattooing is a craft that takes years to master; Medical Tattooing, which involves working on scarred, damaged and delicate skin, is an even more specialist skill set.
