FORGET Scouse brows and vajazzles. Arched eyes and sparkly nether regions are so last year.
It’s time to make way for the new beauty craze sweeping the UK – nipple tattooing.
Yes, you read that right.
Women all over the country are opting for this new procedure in the quest to achieve what they believe to be picture perfect nipples.
Kate Lovland is the owner of Manchester based clinic Skin-By-Design, which tattoos the nipples of around five women every week.
Nipple tattooing, or ‘tittooing’ as it’s more commonly known, is a process originally developed as a medical procedure for breast reconstruction. It now also serves as a cosmetic treatment to darken, enlarge and define the nipples and the surrounding areola, so they appear more prominent, symmetrical and ‘sexy’.
The two-hour procedure involves a local anaesthetic to numb the pain before the patient’s nipples are tattooed with semi-permanent ink. The nipple colour is blended from medical grade micropigments to complement the existing skin colour.
Ladies considering tittoos can expect to pay between £500 to £1,000 for the treatment. But before you rush off to get your nipples drawn on – be warned, the colour fades.
The semi-permanent treatment lasts around 12 to 18 months, so regular top ups are recommended to restore any colour lost as the ink fades over time. Although touch ups may seem inconvenient, they’re actually an advantage (not to mention a safety net). As the skin stretches and the nipples move downwards over time, they can simply be re-drawn and therefore retain definition like a real nipple would.
Kate Lovland is the owner of Manchester based clinic Skin-By-Design, which tattoos the nipples of around five women every week.
She explained: “There’s been a huge increase in this procedure over the last year, we used to do just one procedure a month, which was more areola construction, whereas now we’re just doing cosmetic colouring.
“Women want to make their nipples look darker or more even. Darker nipples now seem to be in fashion with ladies wanting a much pinker or browner areola. Women are striving for the perfect body and they are influenced by what they see in magazines and TV. Porn has also had a major influence.”
But it doesn’t end there.
Kate added: “We get requests from girls wanting to alter the natural shape of their nipple, common requests we get are diamonds and hearts. We ask that they take into consideration that fashion will change and that whilst the procedure is considered semi-permanent the ink can stay in the skin for many years. This would mean that if they change their mind it would be a case of painful tattoo removal procedures.”
Nipple tattoos carry minimal health risks and don’t affect future pregnancies or breast-feeding. The inks used are FDA approved and providing the client follows the appropriate after care advice they can expect to make a full recovery within four to six weeks.
Debbie Clifford, a permanent make-up artist based in West Yorkshire said: “It’s about confidence, just as a set of new eyebrows can give that extra boost, breasts are very feminine and to have them enhanced can give the client massive confidence and a defined nipple is sexier.”
However, it’s not just women buying into this new cosmetic trend.
Debbie added: “Men are getting this done too, the body builders with pale areola’s need to look good.
“It’s great to look after oneself and if you can afford it why not? But if we become obsessed with our bodies it becomes an unhealthy issue. If I feel it’s more than a natural enhancement my clients are looking for, I refer them to a clinical psychotherapist.”
To avoid lilac nipples and other boob mishaps, Kate stressed it’s vital to seek a qualified medical tattooist to carry out the procedure and not a regular tattooist: “It’s important to double check that the practitioner is trained in medical tattooing and is council registered.”
As with vajazzles and permanent power brows, it’s hard to identify any defensible aspect of these tattoos. The smaller the body part being ‘touched-up’ then surely the worse the person’s insecurity is.
In today’s cosmetic surgery culture, where there’s no end to body parts that can be manipulated, some people are now so dissatisfied with their natural bodies that they’ll pay a significant sum to change such a tiny part unnecessarily. And that’s the sad fact of the matter.
Nevertheless, if dark nipples are indeed ‘in’ and can be yours in just two hours, then each to his own. Let’s just hope people really think before getting inked.
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