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'Normal' Again: Cosmetic tattooing offers a boost to those with medical conditions
(Left Photos Courtesy of Nancey Collette; Right Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman)
A "before" photo (top-left) shows how Angela Anderson drew her brows on herself, before getting brow and top eyeliner tattoos (bottom-left) from Nancey Collette (right).
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Published: November 18, 2008
When Angela Anderson lost her hair, including her eyebrows and eyelashes, the blow to her self-esteem was devastating.
"People really looked at me like I was a circus freak," she said.
Alopecia, a disease that causes the body to form antibodies against the hair follicles, first took the hair on her head, then, eventually, all the hair on her body. She wore a wig, but her efforts to fake brows and lashes left her unhappy.
"There was no way to paint them on to make them look somewhat natural," she said. "It did not work." Then Anderson's sister, while doing research on cosmetic tattooing, found Nancey Collette.
Collette, 54, is the founder of Color Beyond, Inc., a nonprofit organization in Winston-Salem that offers cosmetic tattooing to people with hair loss, scarring and other disfiguring medical conditions. As Collette did with Anderson, she can create the illusion of eyebrows and, with tattooed eyeliner, give definition to eyes with no lashes.
She can cover discolored scars and make them blend in with the surrounding skin. She can color the mound of flesh left behind by breast reconstruction to simulate a nipple and an areola, if the nipple and areola weren't reconstructed after the original surgery.
Her work grew from her compassion and a lifelong interest in tattoos.
"I have always been fascinated with tattoos, even when I was little," she said. After working for 13 years with American Express, she decided to change careers in the early '90s and become a nail artist. She opened her first nail salon in the basement of her home. About eight years ago, she learned about the process of cosmetic tattooing and decided to get some training in the field. She learned to give women "permanent makeup" -- eyeliner, eyebrow color and lip color. She found out about the use of tattooing for covering scars and helping people who had lost their brows and lashes.
The more she learned, the more she wanted to learn.
"I did more training, training, training," she said. "I'll be training until I'm 90." Last June, she established Color Beyond, which she operates from the Resort Day Spa & Salon at Harper Hill Commons, the salon she owns.
When potential clients come to Collette, she asks them to fill out a HIPAA form that will allow her to talk to their doctors. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act creates standards to protect individuals' medical records and other personal health information.
"I need to know, is there any reason I shouldn't do this?" she said. If a woman needs breast tattooing, Collette said, she will need to wait several months to a year after reconstructive surgery.
She allows two hours to tattoo brows, her most frequently performed procedure. But the actual tattooing takes 35 to 40 minutes. She talks over color and design, to make sure the client knows exactly how the brows will look, and allows time for the topical numbing cream she uses to work.
Anderson has visited Collette three times to have eyeliner tattooed on her upper lids and color on her eyebrows. She will return once more to have liner tattooed on her lower lids.
Anderson, who drives from her home in Asheville for her sessions with Collette, said that "it's tedious work, right in your face." Anderson describes her pain tolerance as low, and she said that Collette slowed her pace in order to keep her comfortable.
"She would take the time to put the numbing cream on however many times I needed to," Anderson said. "She would wait 10 minutes, do a little more, wait 10 minutes. Most people would not do that, especially when they're doing it for nothing.
"For her to be so patient, knowing that she's doing me a free service, to me that just speaks volumes about her as a person."
Although Collette doesn't charge her medical clients, she accepts donations, and she has applied for a grant to cover some of her costs. The usual cost for tattooing brows is $400 to $450. Eyeliner is $400, and scar removal is $350 an hour. Areoles cost $900 to $950 for both breasts.
"So many people need these services," she said. "Insurance doesn't pay, and it's a very costly procedure."
Although insurance companies don't see the need for these cosmetic procedures, she understands their value.
"If you could see what it does for their confidence, well-being, self-esteem, dignity -- it is medically necessary," she said. When women look into mirrors and see reconstructed breasts with no areoles or nipples, she said, they are reminded that they had cancer, "even when the doctor tells them the cancer is gone."
Her goal is to get a person back to what she calls "their normal." In her case, normal means using a walking stick and a body marred with scars. She had polio when she was a baby, and she has lived with the aftermath of it all her life.
"Having not known any different, this is my normal," she said. But for others, an illness or an accident can destroy "normal." When she restores it, she said, "If you could capture that emotion -- there are not words to explain that."
■ Janice Gaston can be reached at 727-7364 or at jgaston@wsjournal.com.
■ Nancey Collette can be reached at 336-794-9177.
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