Sauler Institute of Tattooing Brings Medical Tattooing to Santa Barbara Community

Located in MiraMed and Day Spa on State Street, Sauler Institute of Tattooing is not your regular tattoo parlor. Instead of designs or sleeves, Sauler Institute offers a more unique and uncommon service: medical tattooing.

Medical tattooing is a corrective and restorative aesthetic procedure used to restore the look of certain body parts. This form of cosmetic tattooing can be used for scars, burns, gender affirmation, post-op surgeries, and more.

This form of tattooing is relatively unknown — many people are not well-versed on medical tattooing, or even aware that it’s an option. While there are multiple medical tattoo places in Los Angeles and the Bay Area, Sauler Institute is the only place in the Santa Barbara area that offers their services.

Taylor Jaimes, a specialist at the Sauler Institute, provides in areola nipple restoration for breast cancer survivors. She does 3D areola tattooing, scar camouflage, and scalp micropigmentation. Jaimes also performs cosmetic medical procedures due to chemotherapy hair loss, such as eyebrows, eyeliner, and lip blushing.

Medical tattooing is more than just getting a regular tattoo. According to Jaimes, procedures like areola restoration for breast cancer survivors represent a feeling of wholeness.

“It’s almost life-changing for [breast cancer survivors], because a mastectomy is an amputation. You’re taking a woman’s breasts from their body and going through surgery after they’ve already gone through chemo … and then they come to me; they get their nipples done; they look in the mirror, and it’s like they feel almost complete again,” Jaimes said.

“[Patients] get really emotional and cry, and I cry with them…. It’s a very emotional experience,” she continued. “It’s very rewarding to give someone that wholeness again.”

Jaimes’s shared emotional experiences with her clients have fostered a tight connection, with clients often keeping in touch via social media. “They’ll send me pictures of how their breasts look and tell me stories…. It’s fun to hear their stories about how their families react to their areolas.”

Through Sauler Institute, Jaimes hopes to bring awareness to medical tattooing in the Santa Barbara community, and allow more providers to be able to offer that service.

“A lot of women have held out and waited on the medical tattooing because it’s either too far or they’re not able to access resources for it,” she said. “So, I’m hoping that just the awareness will allow people to gain access to [medical tattooing].”

Sauler Institute also works with the nonprofit organization Sharsheret, which funds medical tattooing for the areolas and eyebrows for breast cancer survivors. After a patient fills out an application, Sharsheret is able to fund a portion or even the entire tattoo.

For Breast Cancer Awareness Month during October, Jaimes will be giving out two areola tattoos for free. Contact Jaimes at @taylorreneextattoo on Instagram or visit the Sauler Institute website for more information to enter in the raffle. Winners will be contacted at the end of the month.