Mastectomies, or surgical removals of all or part of a breast, can be life-saving procedures for people suffering from or at risk of developing breast cancer, but the scars they leave behind can be both physical and psychological. For some women, tattooing their post-mastectomy breasts has become a powerful way to reclaim what was lost.

A website called P.Ink has helped tattoo artists connect with women who want to tattoo their mastectomy scars. One such tattoo artist, David Allen, had inspiring things to say about the process; “What was clinical became beautiful again… we turned sterile into sensual. We took back control.”