CP+B Support Breast Cancer Survivors with P.INK

After a mastectomy, many breast cancer survivors are left with scars and often, no nipples. This is a problem that reconstructive surgery cannot always solve. In response to this challenge, P.INK is launching a first-of-its-kind online platform to educate survivors about an alternative healing option: tattoos.

 

Hosted on Pinterest at www.p-ink.org, P.INK is a curated collection of design inspiration, artist links and support messages for women seeking creative control over their post-op bodies.

 

To showcase the healing potential of reconstructive ink, today P.INK debuts a video documenting one survivor’s experience. The video chronicles Los Angeles breast cancer survivor Molly Ortwein getting a seven hour scar coverage tattoo. Through a beta version of P.INK, Ortwein connected with Miami-based tattoo artist Colby Butler, who inked her two-year-old mastectomy scars this past January.

 

“I was the last person you’d expect to get a tattoo,” said Ortwein. “But I rethought my options after my doctor told me that I wouldn’t get my nipples back. My coverage tattoos gave me the confidence to close that chapter and move forward.”

 

Ortwein’s video can be seen at http://youtu.be/kzO2U0fJ0jM.

 

“We created P.INK to give women like Molly a new tool for moving on,” said Noel Franus, who created P.INK as a non-profit passion project at Boulder, Colo.—based advertising agency CP+B. He is also Molly’s brother-in-law. “When reconstruction doesn’t cut it, we want to give survivors a chance to re-envision themselves with an entirely blank slate.”