Nipple Tattooing

The Finishing Touch to Breast Reconstruction

For many people, nipple tattooing is the final step in the breast reconstruction process. If your surgeon removed your nipples during a mastectomy, nipple tattooing in our Memphis office could recreate the nipple area to give you a more natural appearance.

What Is Nipple Tattooing?

Nipple tattoos are real tattoos that a trained tattoo artist designs, draws, and applies to your skin. Your PSG tattooist will use needles to apply pigment to your skin, just like with a regular tattoo. The finished result will be nipples that appear to have physical dimensions but are flat to the touch.

This option has become more popular recently, with more people choosing nipple tattoos over reconstruction to avoid additional surgery while achieving ideal results. However, nipple tattoos can also enhance the appearance after reconstruction for a more natural look.

What to Expect During Nipple Tattooing

After your breast reconstruction, it’s natural to want your areola to match your breasts. During your consultation, your PSG provider will discuss your goals and create a treatment plan to meet them.

Your tattoo artist will measure and outline the nipple area to guarantee natural-looking results before embedding organic pigment into your skin. When we’re finished, you’ll have new, permanent nipples and feel confident in your appearance.

You’ll have an initial consultation with your PSG provider before having your tattoos applied, typically in a single visit about four months after breast reconstruction.

Benefits & Risks of Nipple Tattooing

As with any procedure, nipple tattooing has benefits and risks that you should consider before getting started. It is less invasive than reconstruction, and many believe cosmetic results are better.

A tattoo can also have more intricate details and shading, giving you more realistic results. The color of your tattoos may fade slightly over time, but touchup sessions can help maintain your results long-term.

Risks of the nipple tattooing procedure include infection, allergic reaction, granulomas, and keloid formation. Your PSG team will give you everything you need to aid the healing process and keep you healthy, so as long as you follow your post-care guidelines, you shouldn’t have to worry about these issues.

Learn More about Nipple Tattooing with PSG

Contact Memphis Plastic Surgery Group at our Memphis office to learn more about nipple tattooing and how it can give you the final results you deserve.

Before & After Photos

Top Surgery

At Plastic Surgery Group of Memphis, we are committed to providing high-quality, compassionate, and respectful medical care to the transgender community across the Mid-South. Dr. Campbell, Dr. Kath, Dr. Leonardi, and Dr. Hammond adhere to the standards of care set forth by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), and our staff promotes patient-centered care in a private, welcoming environment. Referrals and inquiries can be made by contacting our office at 901.295.7479 or by clicking here. More information on the procedures we offer can be found below.

Facial Feminization Surgery

Facial feminization surgery (FFS) is a grouping of several reconstructive facial procedures that alter the face to create more classically feminine characteristics, such as smoother foreheads, higher brows, smaller noses, narrower jaws, and a reduced Adam’s apple.  At Plastic Surgery Group of Memphis, we offer:

  • Hairline correction (hair transplantation, laser hair removal, scalp advancement)
  • Forehead contouring
  • Browlifts
  • Cheek and chin fillers or implants
  • Genioplasty (chin augmentation)
  • Lip fillers
  • Chondrolaryngoplasty (tracheal shave to reduce the size of the Adam’s apple)

We recommend that patients schedule facial feminization surgery only after the skull bones have finished growing.

Body Contouring

Body contouring, or body sculpting, can enhance the profile of the abdomen, waistline, hips, limbs, and buttocks. As part of gender affirming surgery, it may be referred to as body feminization. These plastic surgery procedures will usually include liposuction and fat grafting as a way to even out fatty tissue deposits, reduce localized excess, and provide the desired feminization of the body. At Plastic Surgery Group of Memphis, we offer the following body contouring procedures to create and accentuate a more feminine curve to the waist and the waist-to-hip ratio:

  • Liposuction
  • Gluteoplasty with fat transfer aka “Brazilian Buttock Lift”  (combines liposuction and fat grafting to reshape the buttocks)

Transfeminine Top Surgery

Hormonal therapy can aid in breast development, but for individuals who desire a larger cup size than hormones can produce, breast augmentation is an available option. Transfeminine breast augmentation is a surgical procedure designed to provide patients with expertly augmented and contoured feminine breasts. We can do this by inserting a breast implant or transferring fat behind the breast tissue, or partially or completely under the chest muscles. Our skilled surgeons are able to keep scarring to a minimum in most cases, usually by making an incision under the breast along a natural skin fold.

Implant selection and size will depend on patient preferences and anatomy, as well as the recommendation of our surgeons. Breast augmentation with Plastic Surgery Group of Memphis gives patients increased fullness and projection in the appearance of the breasts, resulting in a more feminine silhouette.

Transmasculine Top Surgery

For patients who want a more masculine chest that is expertly flattened and contoured, we offer mastectomy or breast reduction procedures in conjunction with chest contouring. Our surgeons use a variety of customized techniques that utilize each patient’s current anatomy to produce a natural looking result.

There are a number of different transmasculine top surgery procedures, and the specific type used will depend upon the individual patient. Other factors that are taken into consideration before the procedure is performed are the amount and elasticity of the skin, the amount of tissue present, and the position and size of the nipples and areola. Liposuction may also be performed as part of the chest contouring procedure.

As with any of our gender affirming surgical procedures, our team will work with each patient to create a customized treatment plan that will meet their unique needs and goals, and maximize the outcome.

 

WPATH Guidelines

According to WPATH guidelines, surgical treatment for gender dysphoria can be considered with one referral letter from a qualified mental health professional for breast/chest surgery (e.g., mastectomy, chest reconstruction, or augmentation mammoplasty).  The recommended content of the referral letters for surgery is as follows:

  1. The client’s general identifying characteristics;
  2. Results of the client’s psychosocial assessment, including any diagnoses;
  3. The duration of the mental health professional’s relationship with the client, including the type of evaluation and therapy or counseling to date;
  4. An explanation that the criteria for surgery have been met, and a brief description of the clinical rationale for supporting the patient’s request for surgery;
  5. A statement about the fact that informed consent has been obtained from the patient;
  6. A statement that the mental health professional is available for coordination of care and  welcomes a phone call to establish this.

Insurance And Financing Information

An increasing number of insurance plans are offering coverage for gender affirming surgical procedures. As a courtesy, we can assist in inquiring with a patient’s insurance company as to whether their plan will cover surgery, as well as submitting the relevant paperwork. Patients may still be responsible for deductibles, co-insurance, and portions of the surgical procedure that are not covered by insurance. Our office will review this with information with every patient before scheduling any procedures. For those who do not have insurance, or whose insurance company will not cover gender affirming surgery, we have multiple financing options available.

Resurfacing

The Lumenis Resurfx Laser can resurface your skin to treat wrinkles, spots and scars.

Pigment & Vessels

The Lumenis M22 laser removes hair and tattoos and treats more than 30 skin conditions like acne scars and stretch marks.

How would you like to even your skin tone, reduce the appearance of acne scars, rewind time on those stretch marks, or even get rid of that tattoo that makes you shudder?

M22 technology

At Plastic Surgery Group in Memphis, we offer the Lumenis M22, a modular, multi-application platform which can help restore your skin to a more youthful appearance.

Laser Hair Removal

Lumenis LightSheer® Laser offers a unique and effective solution for permanent hair reduction, providing the best results with maximum comfort.

Smooth, Youthful Skin

Laser skin treatments can permanently remove hair, turning shaving nicks, painful waxing appointments, and expensive threading sessions into things of the past.

Lasers can also treat dozens of skin conditions by resurfacing the skin, reducing the appearance of veins, and erasing stretch marks.

At Plastic Surgery Group of Memphis, we offer treatments using the Lumenis Lightsheer®.

LightSheer® offers a unique and effective solution for permanent hair reduction, providing optimal results with maximum comfort. Your treatment sessions will be minimal, so you can get back to your busy lifestyle.

infinity before and after

Laser Hair Removal

Lumenis LightSheer® and the Lumenis family of permanent hair reduction products offer unparalleled treatment speed and efficacy while offering optimal comfort.

LightSheer® is more than 75% faster than the average hair reduction session, and this treatment also features the unique HIT™ and ChillTip™ technologies for pain relief.

LightSheer® is a smart economical choice, saving you money spent on temporary hair removal solutions.

You've only got one thing to lose: unwanted hair.

Mommy Makeover

Overview

Rapid weight gain during pregnancy paired with weight loss can cause undesirable changes to a woman’s body.

 

Your Breasts Change

Your breasts enlarge during pregnancy and then even more so while breastfeeding. After your pregnancy and weaning your child, your breasts may decrease in size, lose upper pole fullness, and/or droop.

Breast rejuvenation can involve a lift, reduction, augmentation or a combination of augmentation with lifting.

 

Your Tummy Changes

Your abdominal area can change a lot during pregnancy. Your muscles distract to make room for your growing baby, the overlying skin stretches, and you see an increase in localized fat deposits.

We can restore the contour your abdomen had before your pregnancy with a tummy tuck (with or without liposuction).

A mommy makeover is a common way to talk about the combination of labiaplasty, abdominal and breast surgery.

You can undergo these surgeries all at once or in stages, depending on your wishes and the amount of operating time we need for your procedures.

We'll perform your surgery as an outpatient and your recovery will take 1-2 weeks.

Breast Augmentation

Overview

Breast enlargement with implants (augmentation) can enhance the size and shape of women’s breasts to better blend with their body shape. Pregnancy and breastfeeding or massive weight loss can result in a decrease in breast volume of the whole breast and of the upper portion in particular.

Some women never develop that much breast tissue. Implants can also be used to balance different size breasts. Breast implants are made of a silicone shell and are filled with either saline or silicone gel. Your surgeon will help you decide which type of implant is best for you.

No man-made device lasts forever, but most women will keep the same set of implants. Some women will benefit from a breast lift (mastopexy) to reshape the breasts in conjunction with breast enlargement. Recovery usually takes 1-2 weeks.

 

Before & After Photos

Chin and Neck Contouring

Issues related to the appearance of the front of the neck and the area under the chin arise from excess fat deposits that are usually familial in origin, or from skin laxity secondary to massive weight loss or aging.  In the absence of significant loose skin, fat can be removed with liposuction.  The final results are visible at 6 months once the skin has tightened.

Loose skin in the front of the neck can be tightened by cutting in the hairline behind the ears, lifting and redraping the loose skin, then trimming the excess before sewing up the incisions.  If needed the neck muscles can be tightened as well.  This is referred to as a neck lift and can be done as an independent procedure or as part of a facelift.

In some cases men are willing to accept a direct neck lift, a smaller operation where excess skin (turkey gobbler neck) is removed in the area under the chin and in the front of the neck.  The resultant scar usually blends well with even short beard hairs.

A small chin can create a sense of facial imbalance and make one’s nose appear larger.  Ideally the chin should reach close to an imaginary line dropped from the lower lip.  Insertion of a chin implant can improve chin projection and facial balance.  Implants come in different sizes and can be further trimmed to customize the appearance.  Swelling of the chin and lower lip after surgery can take 1-2 weeks to resolve with the final result apparent at 3 months.  Chin implant surgery can be combined with either liposuction or a face-lift to improve the contour of the front of the neck.

Before & After

Issues related to the appearance of the front of the neck and the area under the chin arise from excess fat deposits that are usually familial in origin, or from skin laxity secondary to massive weight loss or aging. In the absence of significant loose skin, fat can be removed with liposuction. The final results are visible at 6 months once the skin has tightened.

31 year old woman. 5'10, 160 lbs. Had liposuction of her neck removing 25cc of fat. Photos taken 7 months postoperative.

Before

Chin and Neck Contouring Before

After

Chin and Neck Contouring After

 

 

57 year old man. 6', 250 lbs. Had liposuction of his neck 7 years prior, and had excess skin. Underwent T-Z plasty of his neck with touch-up liposuction to his left jowl. 7 months later underwent small office procedure to remove dog ears from the ends of his incision. 16 months after that had another touch-up in the office to improve excess laxity. Final photos taken 6 months after last revision.

Before

Tavin Chin and Neck Before

Intermediate

Tavin Chin and Neck Intermediate

After

Tavin Chin and Neck After