By Sheila Olley

Anyone who has battled cancer knows the physical and emotional impact of the disease is life changing. For women who undergo mastectomy as part of their treatment for breast cancer, there is an added psychological toll because of the dramatic change in the look and feel of their bodies. Regaining their sense of wholeness is an important aspect of the recovery process, and reconstructive surgery is an option that can help improve confidence and quality of life for patients.

Breast cancer surgery is performed at Halton Healthcare’s Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital and Milton District Hospital sites. Breast reconstruction surgery is also offered to patients, when appropriate, and approximately 460 breast cancer surgery procedures with and without reconstruction are performed each year at Halton Healthcare.

This year, the hospital became the first in the region to also offer patients areola tattooing as a physician funded service. This is an innovative technique that uses pigment to simulate the physical dimension and depth of an areola after breast reconstruction.

To support women in their cancer journey, an impressive team of physicians created the website – www.restoremeabc.com – as a trustworthy resource for women who have battled breast cancer to find reputable information about breast reconstruction and survivorship. The team is based at the Oakville site and includes nurses as well as Dr. Lauren Willoughby and Dr. Christine Nicholas, Plastic Surgeons who specialize in breast reconstruction, Dr Nicole Callan, General Surgeon with a specialty in breast surgery, and Dr. Alexandra Ginty, Family Physician and Surgical Assistant.

Dr. Ginty is the Regional Primary Care Lead, Cancer Screening, for the Mississauga Halton Central West Regional Cancer Program. She is also a breast cancer survivor and an artist. She recognized an opportunity to further support survivors with restorative areola tattooing, a highly specialized field that requires about 100 hours of training, which Dr. Ginty completed in 2023.

While breast reconstruction post-mastectomy is covered by OHIP, areola tattooing is only covered if performed by a physician. Dr. Ginty was the first physician in the region to become certified, and the Restore-Me Clinic at Halton Healthcare is the first to offer this option as a physician-
funded service.

“A lot of people know about surgery and chemo, but they don’t put breast reconstruction into the equation,” Dr. Ginty says. “Areola tattooing is not decorative, it’s the end of the restorative phase. Bringing this into the hospital as a funded service is about equity and telling people we feel this is part of the process of healing…the
psychological part.”

Sandy Garraway, Program Director, Cancer & Ambulatory Care, agrees. “The Restore-Me clinic finishes the journey; it restores women to their full selves. One of the areas we try to focus on is survivorship or what happens after active treatment is over.”

The procedure involves a consult from the specialist, surgeon, oncologist or family physician. Then the patient is booked for bilateral tattooing, unilateral tattooing or follow-up appointments. The actual tattooing process takes place in a dedicated room in the outpatient medical-surgical clinic at the Oakville site, using state-of-the-art equipment and inks. Before the procedure, the patient is given full information about the process and about the underlying surgery and reconstruction and how that might affect the ink absorption. Generally, there are two to three follow-up appointments within the first few months to touch up the inks.

For patients, it’s not only important to have this option available to them, but to have it done in a setting where they feel safe and are supported by a trustworthy clinical team. One woman says she had not been able to look in the mirror for two years and was astounded at the results. And another says, “When you have breast cancer, every step of the way there are times when you are up and times when you are down. This made me so happy, and I was glad it was in the hospital setting. It was very emotional for me, fantastic. I felt like I was complete again, like I was
Wonder Woman!” nH