Malvern tattooist helps patients recovering from surgery rebuild their body confidence

Becky Barker, who has been a tattooist for the last 10 years, is offering free and discounted services to breast cancer patients and those with surgical scars.

Her work includes re-drawing areolae for women who have had mastectomies following breast cancer, and scar camouflage micro-pigmentation, which makes surgical scars less visible.

Mrs Barker, 34, said: “When people have been through the trauma from being treated for cancer they want to feel normal again and so being able to help restore their body confidence is really important.

“For women who have had breast cancer, having an areola again helps them feel normal again.

“At the moment they can get the work on the NHS, but that tends to just be a coloured circle, whereas these are more realistic and look more natural.

“In these cases you are almost putting the last piece of the puzzle in for people, helping them repair their bodies.”

The work is done in the Hermits’ Retreat above the Number Nine tattoo studio in Malvern, and Mrs Barker, who is originally from Birmingham, said the work is a vital form of after care.

She added: “A lot of the care people receive is while they are suffering from cancer, but people carry on living with the trauma of the experience, so anything that can help them with recovering from that is great.”

Mrs Barker has set up a fundraising page where members of the public can donate so that more people can access her work for free.

It can be found at