Art is magnificent on its own, but when it has an even higher purpose, it becomes transcendent.

Eric Catalano, a hyperrealistic tattoo artist who became popular after a photo of his work went viral. Namely, he tattooed a man’s nail beds back onto his fingers after they were amputated, completely for free!

Eric said that the man probably didn’t even expect the realism he received, and when the saw the outcome, his facial expression revealed that his expectations were exceeded greatly.

Catalano runs the Eternal Ink Tattoo Studio in Hecker, Illinois, and has since been overwhelmed with requests from amputees and cancer survivors for hyperrealistic tattoos.

He explained that he started offering tattoos for amputees after his grandmother survived breast cancer after double mastectomies. Yet, he was younger then, and he hadn’t perfected the art then, but when he did, he decided to help women in a virtual way.

He used ink only, and he draws three-dimensional nipples so realistically that it is difficult to detect the difference just by looking at them. To raise awareness, he started offering free breast cancer tattoos after mastectomies.

Moreover, he began working on patenting and inventing a micro dermal implant that sits under the skin and has a silicone areola and nipple magnetized to the top to form a tangible nipple.

He explained that he had been a body piercer for ten years, done hundreds of implants, usually a diamond or a star or whatever cosmetic things his customers requested. Yet, one day, he thought ‘What if I just made a dermal implant into a nipple, and put the dermal implant into their breast?”

He worked with an engineer for months before they perfected the shape and feel of the silicone nipple. And eventually, he did it. He successfully implanted a prosthetic nipple onto the breast of a woman who had lost her own after undergoing a mastectomy, and the woman appeared in an Indiegogo campaign video.

He says that he has been doing them for free for 8 years now, and has completed more than 75 pairs of 3D nipples free of charge since he just couldn’t charge women after all they have gone through.

He claims that his conscience does not let him take money for his services to amputees and cancer survivors.

Yet, these tattoos are not cheap to produce, as they require special inks and materials, and since he has been doing them for a long time, the business takes a toll on his finances.

A lot of people are reaching out to him, and he is torn between these cries for help and the expenses.

He has his own family to support and does not all the money needed to help all in need, so he set up a Go Fund Me Page to source funds so he can go on working for free.

He says that the site will help all those sufferers to receive their free tattoo work. He claims that he doesn’t want any actual sufferer of breast cancer to have to pay to put nipples on, so he hopes that through public funding, he can be paid for his services and can turn around and do it for free.

So, a little is needed to help a lot! Why don’t we all visit his site and donate to contribute to this cause?

Sources:
theheartysoul.com
twistedsifter.com
www.riverfronttimes.com