Beauty INKlusivity is in our DNA. We’re highlighting a Select Team Artist who—like Perma Blend—works to give everyone access to beauty that they define on their own terms.
For nearly 20 years, pioneering medical tattoo artist Mandy Sauler has offered high-quality, cutting-edge procedures for a broad range of clientele. From cancer survivors seeking scar camouflage to children in need of cleft lip tattooing, Mandy’s desire to help people fuels her incredible talent. A graduate of the Florida College of Natural Health and the Whitney Center for Permanent Cosmetics, Mandy is Board Certified by the American Academy of Micropigmentationand is a member of the Society of Permanent Cosmetic Professionals. A micropigmentation specialist at Penn Medicine, she’s perfected a variety of treatments aimed at reconstruction. In recent years, she’s taken an interest in working with the transgender community to support them during their transition process. We spoke to her about her work with transgender clients, LGBTQ pride, and what she’s learned along the way.
Perma Blend: Can you tell us about your work with the transgender community?
Mandy Sauler: We do several different tattooing procedures for gender reassignment. For Male to Femalereassignment, permanent makeup can help with creating brows, eyeliner, and lip color. We do scar camouflage and areola and nipple reconstruction for top surgery, and for bottom surgery, we do scar camouflage and correct skin pigmentation from Labiaplasty Orchiectomy scars.
For Female to Male reassignment, we do Scalp Micropigmentation to create hairlines or create the appearance of hair fullness. We also do several procedures for top and bottom surgery. We may need to make areolas larger to give a more feminine appearance to breast augmentation. After phalloplasty, we can make skin tones match, give the illusion of veins and even circumcision.
PB: Which of these do you feel most skilled at? Were there any you felt unprepared for?
MS: Areolacreation is the easiest procedure for me to perform for these clients. I had a lot to learn initially when it came to the procedures associated with bottom surgery, but whenever I started something that was new to me, I took it step by step. Communicating with the client helps me to understand what their desired results are. I love new challenges and don’t let anything that I never done before stop me from trying. I would tell clients that it was a new procedure for me but I’m willing to use my knowledge and skills as a trained artist to do my best work. It was up to them to trust me. Of course, you also have to know your limits and seek advice from an experienced artist if it is out of your comfort zone. Only you know your comfort zone.
PB: What have you learned about yourself and your art from working with the transgender community?
MS: I have learned that if I allow my doubts to pave the way, then I would not be able to change all the lives that I have with my art. The procedures [that challenge me the most] have also taken my art to new heights.
PB: What have you learned about the transgender community from providing these services?
MS: There is so much more than just the transition process for anyone embarking on this journey. From the public to their family and friends, they face so many challenges in being understood.
PB: Why do you think it's important to offer PMU and medical tattooing procedures for the LGBTQ community specifically?
MS: Because these procedures can finish off the reconstruction process and make people feel even more complete.
PB: Have you faced any challenges or learned any valuable lessons from your transgender clients?
MS: I learned about pronoun use from one of my clients in a class. They used the pronouns they/them and were offended that I and the other students were referring to them as he. I learned to ask what a client’s preferred pronoun is and if you aren’t sure, call them by their name.
I also learned that a lot of people don't talk to transgender people the way they would other people. Of course, they deserve the same respect as everyone else. My team is accepting of anyone for who they are whatever their gender, race, or sex.
PB: What do you want people to know about working with the transgender community?
MS: I did my first reassignment procedure in 2011. Now that there is so much more available for clients in the transition process, there is also so much work to be provided by medical and permanent makeup artists. I want to be able to teach other artists to support this community and provide these services.
PB: You’ve recently been doing some amazing work with Operation Smiles in Egypt too. Can you tell us about that?
MS: My team and I were able to go to Egypt and start a program to tattoo children to reconstruct their faces after cleft lip surgery. It was the first time this has ever been implemented on this type of mission and it was probably one of the biggest life-changing experiences that I've had throughout my tattooing career. It was also one of the most challenging. These procedures are highly difficult to begin with, not to mention performing them on children and with a language barrier. It’s not just a lip tattoo, you're reconstructing the face, camouflaging scars, and reconstructing the lips with natural lip colors. We tattooed over a dozen children and were able to leave with tears and smiles on our faces and on theirs. It was truly rewarding work.
PB: Where can people go to learn more about your work?
MS: They can find me online at saulerinstituteoftattooing.com on Instagram at @mandy_sauler on Facebook at Mandy Sauler / Sauler Institute of Tattooing.
I'm an open book. Please message me on Instagram if you have any questions or have any case studies that you want to run by me. I'd love to help.
Check out Mandy’s sets created with Perma Blend for scarsOpens a new window and areolasOpens a new window. They offer shades for a broad range of ethnicities, skin tones, ages, and skin types.