One Woman’s Mastectomy Becomes Her Inspiration to Create the Perfect Nipple
But after surviving cancer, Arbel was no longer afraid. “After cancer, I felt fearless in every way,” she said. “I just felt whatever will happen, will happen. Before cancer hit me, I was afraid in a way. But after cancer, I was afraid of dying, that the treatment wouldn’t work. Fear had a different point of view. I just felt, whatever, I’m gonna try it. When you’re fearless and add to that and I believed in my product, that what I had made for myself made me feel better. If I felt like that, a lot of girls will probably feel like that.”
After one year of studying prosthetics, Arbel made her first nipple out of silicone — a similar material found in most post-mastectomy implants — for herself. If she was a happy customer, she figured she could make others happy as well. In 2012 she started Pink Perfect, which makes readymade custom prosthetic nipples for breast cancer survivors.
Unlike other prosthetic nipples companies, Pink Perfect makes personalized nipple molds. Similar businesses such as ReForma and Softcare Silicone UK offer adhesive nipple stick-ons that are considerably cheaper, with pairs starting at $40. But they don’t offer the option to get a personalized mold of your existing nipple.
In 2013 Arbel was named Israeli Entrepreneur of the Year by the philanthropic organization Keren Shemesh Foundation. CEO Michal Even-Chen told PolicyMic, “Michelle was awarded first prize for managing to combine her ambition for economic and business independence with her own personal struggle.”
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