eagle ridge hospital face tattoo program helps match skin grafts to original skin
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sandi saunier, the surgical nurse from the facial medical tattoo program at eagle ridge hospital, tattoos a patient.
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after malcolm matheson had cancerous tissue removed from his neck, throat and cheek, doctors grafted skin from his arm onto his face.
“the skin graft that they used on my face was quite different than rest of my face, so it kind of stands out,” matheson said.
on the recommendation of his surgeon, he had his jaw and neck tattooed so the tones of the skin graft better matched the rest of his face.
“it isn’t something that i notice a lot, but i know that people around me do notice that, so it makes me feel a little better about being around other people,” he said of the the skin colour difference.
matheson’s tattoo work was done at the facial medical tattoo program at eagle ridge hospital, one of canada’s few free medical-tattooing programs.
“i think when people come to see me, they expect me to have piercings and tattoos everywhere,” said sandi saunier, the surgical nurse who has been providing medical tattooing to patients in the lower mainland since 2009. saunier doesn’t have any tattoos or any plans to get one.
she spends a long period of time making sure the colours she mixes are as close as possible to patients’ skin.
“i have probably 30 different colours of pigments, and i can mix and match them all,” saunier said. “i keep mixing, mixing, mixing, until i get the perfect colour.”
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“men might have little whisker marks. so i can use a different needle and colouring and actually put whiskers in your face too,” she said.
malcolm matheson, left, a patient of the facial esthetic medical tattoo program at eagle ridge hospital, with sandi saunier, the surgical nurse who performed the medical tattoo.
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saunier started her medical tattooing journey in 2009, when a plastic surgeon at her hospital was looking to start a free program for women to get an areola tattooed on following a mastectomy. before then, patients had to pay for the service.
“obviously, it’s a lot of money,” saunier said of the medical tattoo process.
saunier has tattooed areolas on about 1,400 breast cancer patients as well about a dozen patients with scarring from tissue transplants or other surgeries, including one patient who had been bitten in the face by a dog.
she initially struggled to find someone who could train her on the procedure but eventually found a nurse in kentucky who came to b.c. to train her.
“she taught me how to go through the process of using the right needles, going to the right depth in the skin, using the right stroke, using the right colours, teaching me how to blend colours,” saunier said
“i couldn’t find anybody in canada at this time. there was no other nurse doing this.”
saunier also took a course on using tattoos to cover scars and even shadowed an abbotsford tattoo artist, just in case she “was lacking something.”
malcolm matheson, left, a patient of the facial esthetic medical tattoo program at eagle ridge hospital, with sandi saunier, right, the surgical nurse who performed the medical tattoo.
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matheson said there was no pain during the procedure.
“the feeling overall was more one of pressure,” he said.
the facial tattoo program operates two days a month and the areola tattoo clinic one day a week.
each tattoo session takes up to two hours. as a registered nurse with special training, saunier can provide a local anesthetic to minimize the pain that normally comes with tattooing.
funding for the program comes from eagle ridge hospital foundation.
“i think the foundation stepping up like this is something that really should be applauded,” matheson said, calling the process “quite an important step,” in his healing process.
the facial esthetic medical tattoo program is available to cancer patients throughout the lower mainland on a referral from a surgeon. for more information on how to support this program, call 604-469-3128 or visit the eagle ridge hospital foundation website.
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