Breast cancer recovery process winds up at an unexpected New Bedford location: Tattoo shop

NEW BEDFORD — When Katie Ponte was ready for her nipple tattoos, she had all the trust in the world in Rachel Garnett, who was in her first year as a licensed cosmetic artist.

Garnett, 26, a third-year tattooer, offers paramedical tattooing, also known as nipple augmentation, at the New Bedford Tattoo Company, owned by her mother, Val Kollars. It’s where she started her two-year apprenticeship five years ago, and where she’s motivated to help other people.

Garnett has had family members who have unfortunately lost their battles with cancer. Her wife, Shelby Barbas, has lost family members, including a parent, to cancer. She has had a lot of clients who have shared their battles, and the losses of loved ones, with her.

“It really took off from there,” she said. “It’s been great meeting everybody and hearing their stories, and everybody’s just so strong, so positive.”

It’s how she met Ponte.

“Katie came to me when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer, and we built our friendship from there.”

Being a licensed cosmetic artist creates opportunity

The singular licensed cosmetic artist on the South Coast, Garnett has been tattooing Ponte for at least four years. Ponte got her first tattoo - a feather with an arrow along with the word warrior and a breast cancer ribbon - while she was still in active treatment.

“That for me was my reminder while I was actively going through the fight that I was strong and that I could do this,” Ponte said.

The New Bedford resident said she basically became addicted to tattoos at that point.

“Every time I’ve come, we’ve talked about my journey and about how when I looked in the mirror all I saw previously was my scars, and they looked fake, and it was just a reminder of everything that I went through, and it sucked,” she said. “I didn’t feel like a whole person.”

Ponte had done some research on the nipple tattoos, and Garnett was in training at the time, so they agreed that once Garnett was ready, Ponte would be one of her first people to get it done. She had read stories about the positive change it could make on her outlook.

While going to a plastic surgeon was an option, it was not for her. She appreciates the artistry of her tattoo.

“I feel whole,” she said. “When I look in the mirror, I just see boobs. I just see a regular woman again, and that was something I had not felt for years. It’s rewarding for me, and I want to help encourage other people to get it done and help promote what she’s doing because it truly is artwork, too.”

Ponte said others outside the area offer these services, but they just follow a template, and it’s like they’re doing machine work. She said Garnett really has a personal touch and is always ready to answer any questions about the process.

“She wants you to feel like you used to feel,” Ponte said. “It’s a really awesome service that she’s offering.”

Word of mouth helps promote tattoo artist's work

Garnett can advertise for nipple augmentation as a service, but posting pictures may get her reported on social media, so she appreciates her friends like Ponte for helping her get the word out.

Ponte said like most breast cancer patients who go through treatment, she feels numb across her chest, so she didn’t feel pain. She said she was more excited than anything. She said cancer is still a topic that can be uncomfortable to talk about and some people hide it. She hopes that can change.

“If I can help one person with early detection, if I can help one person who is currently going through their fight who has questions about their procedure or their treatment or whatever it is, that’s my goal,” she said.

Ponte said she also wants to help other patients who may be struggling with body dysmorphia after their surgery connect with Garnett.

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Ponte's journey with cancer

Ponte was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in October 2020, underwent six rounds of chemotherapy and had a double mastectomy and then had 13 additional rounds of chemotherapy and 28 radiation sessions. She estimates she had 147 doctor’s appointments in a year and a half and worked through it.

She actually discovered that she had cancer after finding a lump on her breast while getting out of the shower in the middle of the pandemic and advocated for herself with her doctors. She said that’s why she’s now advocating for patients everywhere.

It’s not commonly talked about or discussed, but Ponte wants to help Garnett change that. She said many people find getting a tattoo to be cathartic, and it’s been a form of therapy for her, and this brings it to a whole new level.

“It definitely feels like closure,” Ponte said.

Garnett said she was nervous the first time she did the nipple tattooing, wondering if she would be making her client uncomfortable, but she reassured her she need not worry. She starts off by building rapport with clients so she can gain insight into what they are thinking and talk about expectations.

For clients who may worry about feeling discomfort, she found a numbing cream that can be used before or after the procedure on broken skin to combat any tenderness.

A new lease on life

Ponte also has an interesting perspective because the company where she works as an accountant has drugs in clinical trials for cancer patients, and she participated in a clinical trial.

She said the job is rewarding, and she reminds the scientists that at the end of the day, they are saving patients’ lives and asks that they be mindful of the side effects.

She was hired on the spot in June 2021. She had no hair when she had her interview, and she needed the job because the day she was set to return to work at her previous job after a required three weeks off, her position was eliminated. She was in the middle of treatment and had no health insurance.

“It was all about helping cancer patients live longer than ever before, and a lightbulb went off,” she said. “I thought this is my job, this is my dream to be able to give back.”

She has worked for different clinical trial companies, work that continues to be rewarding, especially when patients come in and speak about the drugs that are literally saving their lives. Her next checkup is in March and after that every six months to the Southcoast Cancer Center in Fairhaven.

“It’s cool,” she said. “It gives me a reason to wake up every day and keep pushing.”

When she was in treatment, she had to go three times a week sometimes, so she considers the nurses, her oncologist and the staff to be family. She lives with the side effects, and she feels she has a new lease on life.

She said she couldn’t have done it alone without the strong support system behind her and wants to provide that for her clients in case it might be an option for them.

She wants to cover the spectrum and reach out to women who have who battled cancer and want to have to have breast reconstruction, or breast augmentation, or a breast lift with scarring and to transgender people who might have had top surgery.

She started by putting out a model call on Instagram asking if anybody would volunteer to have nipple tattoos on their thighs and did 16 of those in October. She also had four nipple tattoos on people’s chests, for a total of 20.

While there’s no specific training, Garnett studied basic anatomy and put out the call for any willing models of different ages and races she could practice on and study how long it would take to heal. She then posted the legs.

Are breast cancer nipple tattoos covered by insurance?

She has started charging $200 for the service. Garnett said she has been told that it’s hard to find anyone who will offer the service because it’s very expensive and not covered by insurance or done by doctors.

It takes about an hour and a half. If a client has before surgery pictures to share, they will look at them together, go over color theory, use swatches to the chest to see how they feel, draw everything on by hand and see how they feel, if comfortable or not, if there are any changes they want.

Tattoo time takes about 30 minutes to an hour. There is also a follow-up appointment in about three weeks when everything is settled and so she can darken it or add any highlights.

Consultations with Garnett are available at the New Bedford Tattoo Shop located at 82 Front St., in New Bedford.

Standard-Times staff writer Kathryn Gallerani can be reached at kgallerani@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @kgallreporter. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Nipple tattoos are an option for breast cancer survivors