BREAST cancer patients should know there are nipple tattooists locally, and an Isle of Wight woman is trying to spread the message.

Gemma Bowers is a nipple tattoo artist and helps men and women get their confidence back after surgery by recreating the image of a nipple for them.

However, the industry is struggling to be heard due to photos of their work being blocked on social media.

Frustrated campaigners are showing social media they have a voice and Gemma is involved with a new platform, World Medical Artists, which has a campaign planned for September 1.

They have been wearing and carrying huge inflatable boobs to try to get noticed.

They said: "The frustration lies with artists being unable to show the world how incredible you can look after breast cancer. These important images are deemed to be pornographic and are subsequently removed and accounts blocked by social media platforms.

"Breast cancer patients do not know that there is an army of artists on their doorstep! We want to use these images to show others breast cancer patients that we are out there."

Gemma said: "We're hoping if the campaign works, Facebook will stop banning these images and we can post without worrying our pages will be shut down, which blocks our whole business from not only posting but even replying to our customers' messages.

"The NHS do tattoos but they are not artists, and people want choice. It gives them their dignity back to look 'normal' again."

Isle of Wight County Press:

An example of Gemma's work, above

To contact Gemma about her tattoos, go to her Facebook pages facebook.com/Gemsink and facebook.com/TheHairandBeautyCentre