A Kirkcudbright mum is helping women to “feel whole again” after the trauma of breast cancer surgery.

Nicole Hunter recently began offering a special tattooing service to breast cancer survivors to help them regain their self-esteem and body confidence.

And the kind-hearted 37-year-old has been running tattoo clinics for free to the women who have had a mastectomy.

Nicole had been giving eyebrow tattoos through her VIP Brows business to people who have been through chemotherapy, but she came across more and more women who were body conscious after their masectomies.

Nicole, who runs her firm out of MD Studio in Dumfries, said: “A lot of the women said that they didn’t want to look at their bodies in the mirror for a long, long time.

“The tattooing service gives the women confidence and makes them feel whole again. I just love doing it for people.”

She added: “I ran a clinic a few years ago for eyebrows for people in cancer treatment and with alopecia and it was a huge success.

“I’ve now done my training for this so am hoping to do the same again.

“It can be a huge help with people’s self-confidence and it can provide
the end of the journey.

“It’s available all the time but I’ll be running the clinics once a month.”

Following an intensive two-day training course near London, Nicole came back to Dumfries equipped with the skills to offer nipple tattoos to breast cancer survivors.

Although based in Dumfries, Nicole also works in Castle Douglas and Kirkcudbright once a month.

A Dumfries woman, who did not want to be named, visited Nicole to have her nipples tattooed this week.

She said: “I had cancer in 2007 which resulted in a bilateral mastectomy.

“I decided to go for reconstructive surgery afterwards to boost my self-esteem, but the problem is that you are left with no nipples.

“St John’s Hospital in Livingston offer a nipple tattooing service on the NHS, and I needed that to feel normal again.

“I was very grateful for this but they never looked real and they faded over time. It was also quite painful having the tattoos done at hospital.

“With Nicole’s service there was no pain or discomfort afterwards.

“It’s much more professionally done and real looking. Nicole spent several hours doing the tattoo work and I was amazed she did it for free.”

To book a place at the clinic call 07712677287, visit www.facebook.com/vipbrowspermanentmakeup or www.vipbrows.co.uk .