There have been great advances made with artists who specialize in cosmetic tattoos for people who want to camouflage scars or burns — and for women who’ve suffered through breast cancer and are ready to take their recovery to the next level. Darlene DiBona Chesko is the owner of the Brookline-based Odyssey Wellness Tattoo Shop, and it’s not just any tattoo shop. Many of Darlene’s clients say her work is life-changing for them. DiBona Chesko joined GBH’s Henry Santoro to discuss her work. The transcript below has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
Henry Santoro: I have not been to your shop, your studio, but I have seen photographs, and it reminds me of my very cool acupuncturist office. It’s very spa-like. There’s cool art on the walls. It’s serene. And most of all, it’s welcoming.
DiBona Chesko: I love that description. And that was my goal. I just wanted people to feel comfortable, like they were coming over to my house.
Santoro: You say on your web page that you are not an aesthetician; you’re a tattoo artist. So what made you take your art in the wellness direction?
DiBona Chesko: Years ago, after I had been tattooing traditionally for about 10 years, I decided I wanted to learn about cosmetic tattooing. It was of interest to me. I’m the kind of person who after I get comfortable at one place in my field, I look around and ask, what else is there in here for me to explore?
Santoro: How long has that type of service been around?
DiBona Chesko: Oh, years. I started learning from a man who had been doing cosmetic tattooing since the late '70s. There are great strides being made in practice and techniques that far surpass the initial approach to cosmetic tattoos. It seems like the learning curve is speeding up. People are doing some amazing things right now.
Santoro: If someone wants you to camouflage or cover a burn or do nipple reconstruction, but they also want Snoopy on their calf, can you do that?
DiBona Chesko: Yes, I can do Snoopy and I can also make a new nipple. I recreated a belly button once. I’ve done some interesting recreations or reconstructions. The person who lost her navel to surgery unexpectedly, she felt incomplete and didn’t feel like herself without a belly button there, so we made one.
Santoro: What you do is very specialized. What are some things that someone should do when searching for a cosmetic tattoo creator?
DiBona Chesko: Look at the work. Look at the portfolio of the people you’re researching. I would also say look at previous client testimonials. Personal comfort level and safety is a very important part of the whole process.
Santoro: Tattoos are art, and art is very personal. What do you do to help your clients feel comfortable when they first come to see you?
DiBona Chesko: I sit down and we have a conversation about what’s going on with them, what their needs are and what their goals are. I show them the studio and they get to see that they’ll be working in a very safe space that’s private.
Santoro: And it’s not like Black Sabbath is blaring out of the speakers.
DiBona Chesko: Not typically. Some days Black Sabbath might be playing in the studio, but it depends on what people want to hear. Typically we listen to all kinds of music, and not necessarily “spa” music. It’s a very nice environment. We made a point to be inclusive. We are in the Brookline, Mass inclusive business registry, so we are officially categorized as an inclusive business in Brookline. There is no one who may not walk through the doors of my shop. Everyone’s welcome there.
Santoro: Many of the women that you see go through or have gone through an incredibly emotional journey. At any point in their healing process, do they come to you, and do you ever say they need a few more months of healing before you can work on a person?
DiBona Chesko: One of the first things we ask a client, a potential client, is how far post-op they are. When was their last surgery and how much healing have they gone through? Typically, I like my clients to be a minimum of six months healed. Six months to a year is ideal for me, but I’m never going to contradict what their doctor says is okay. Because for some people, waiting that six months for all the scarring and everything to settle down and be done healing might be way beyond the healing window. I defer to their doctor, I defer to their caregivers’ directives in that way. I say six months to a year, but if their doctor says you’ll be fine after three months, then three months it is. That’s what we do.
Santoro: And not all mastectomy clients want nipple reconstruction. Some want artwork on their chest.
DiBona Chesko: Something cool, yeah. Some people just want to make it cool. And we can do that too!
Santoro: What variety of tattoos have you done?
DiBona Chesko: I’m currently working on a pretty piece, it’s a cherry blossom and bird motif. The chest becomes a canvas. I’ve done a beautiful leopard in the jungle sitting on a tree — jungle foliage and flowers and stuff. I’ve done a big chess piece on a person who did not have reconstructive surgery and so she just healed flat. I think if memory serves, she did actually have reconstructive surgery, but she said it felt awful. She didn’t like the way the implants were, and she was uncomfortable, so she had them removed and she just healed flat and then got a great big chess piece over that.
Santoro: Chemotherapy and radiation can wreak havoc on a person’s body, with hair loss being one of the biggest side effects that we’re all familiar with. And because of that, you do eyebrows.
Dibona Chesko: I do eyebrow tattoos. I do hair restoration tattooing as well, but usually that’s more sought after by men who are balding. The eyebrow work I love doing because it makes an enormous difference in the way a person, specifically a woman who has been through breast cancer and chemotherapy, the way she feels about how she looks. Nobody likes feeling like they look all washed out. I put a beautiful set of eyebrows on someone, and when they get that back, it puts a pep back in their step and they are ready to take on the day.
Santoro: And you don’t always just work with cancer patients or burn victims. You also, being all-inclusive, work with the trans community.
DiBona Chesko: Yes, very closely. Trans men are my primary clients. They typically have some areola things that we could address post-top surgery. Sometimes people have intense scarring from top surgery, or their areolas need a little fixing up or a little cleaning up around the edges depending on how they healed. Or sometimes they just opted not to go for a nipple graft at all and we just completely recreate a new nipple for them. Then there’s also phalloplasty reconstruction work, which is for trans men who have had bottom surgery. I help them make their phalloplasty surgeries look more cohesive.
Santoro: Those are some very personal areas that you’re working in.
DiBona Chesko: People need to trust me, and they need to like the work. But they also need to know I’m an artist, and be willing to let me do this work with them.
