Tattooing after breast cancer to “make something beautiful on what wasn't beautiful”, with Florine Gilly from Alès

Florine Gilly exerce dans un institut de l’hyper-centre d'Alès, au nord du Gard. MIDI LIBRE – ALEXIS BETHUNE

Cette professionnelle qui exerce au cœur de la capitale des Cévennes, dans le Gard, vient de se spécialiser dans les peaux lésées. Rencontre.

A professional tattoo artist who has been working for two years, on her own, in a beauty salon in the city center of Alès, in the Gard, Florine Gilly is interested in a specialization, the result of a few days of training that she followed last month, near Bordeaux, at the Dermo Scar Repair training center, affiliated with the French Tattoo School. She now also works on damaged skin: scars, burns, stretch marks, etc. “I followed this training to respond professionally to a request, with something certifying”, specifies the young woman aged 29.

“I am empathetic and hyper-sensitive by nature”

From the outset, the one who first completed her apprenticeship in a tattoo parlor in Quissac specifies that she intends to satisfy women who have suffered from breast cancer, who have undergone a breast removal or who find themselves with a breast that has been deformed by a curettage. “Post-cancer interested me because I am a woman, because it touches me to help people, me who is empathetic and hyper-sensitive by nature, and to give another dimension to artistic tattooing”, she confides.

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The psychological effect of tattooing

Tattooing is not limited to aesthetics, but plays a more intimate, even psychological role. Because women can thus “rediscover a femininity that they have lost” and “take a step forward on their path to healing”. The exchange is therefore essential before getting a tattoo done on a bruised chest. For Florine Gilly, it is “doing something beautiful on what was not”. This is done from “a pattern that is specific to each person. What works best is floral. With plants, it is easier to cover the entire scar”, she continues. “Everything is possible; we adapt the technical basis…” For example, it is not possible to do filler, at the risk of tearing a scar “because the skin is recent”, explains this professional. “Nevertheless, you can shade over it. Make lines, but not in the direction of the scar…” Likewise, the tattoo artist warns that this can close the door to other treatments, especially in the event of a recurrence.“We must warn them so that these people can make an informed decision!”

Be careful, not everything is possible!

Damaged skin can have other origins, therefore. We think of scarification, everyday accidents, etc. And burn victims. “For hard and cardboard skin, there are also techniques to make the ink penetrate well”, she indicates, while specifying that “for major burn victims with graft placement, it's a no”. Similarly, tattooing is prohibited on eczema and psoriasis. On the other hand, it is possible for someone with skin depigmentation. But so that there are no unpleasant surprises, so that the pattern is not ultimately unsuitable, “you have to make sure that the vitiligo is stabilized”.

Victim of large stretch marks, “she found her body again”

Tattooing on damaged skin turns out to be a technique that can restore confidence to some. Florine Gilly then cites the case of this client, aged around twenty, whom she recently tattooed on the ribs and stomach to hide large stretch marks. “And then she accepted her body”, she smiled. “She found her body again.”

Contact: Facebook and Instagram page “Wolf Inkk Tattoo”.