'Pink prosthetic breast did not match my skin tone'

Women of colour having treatment for cancer are routinely offered prostheses and wigs designed for white patients

- MAYA OPPENHEIM

Dee Mattoo, who was diagnosed with breast cancer 11 years ago at the age of 33, felt anxious about wearing certain clothes after being given a prosthetic implant to wear. That was because it was pink and designed for a white patient, looking very different from her own skin tone.

Ms Mattoo, who lives in south Birmingham, said: “It hit me when I would be wearing something and the actual thing would fall out and it would gape and be obvious – then you think I can’t wear what I want to wear.”

The 45-year-old, who is on cancer medication, said she would have had better mental health if she had been given the right breast prosthesis as she recounted how there had been no mention of the colour and only talk of matching the size and shape.

“I would put it down to ignorance,” she added. “I see it as prejudice in a way – people not being respected when some parts of their body are being removed.”

Her story comes as The Independent has learnt female cancer patients from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds are being given wigs designed for white women and prosthetic breasts which do not match their skin colour.

Campaigners warn that women of colour routinely have to “plead” or wait a long time to get a prosthesis that matches their skin tone and are often told nothing is available – with the lack of resources harming their mental health.

Cancer survivors with first-hand experience of the issue who spoke to The Independent in a series of interviews blamed the problem on a combination of ignorance, legacies of institutional racism, prejudice and unconscious bias.

Charlotte Crowl, project lead at Black Women Rising, which campaigns on this issue, said: “If a wig or prosthesis is offered to match someone’s colour or hair for one race, it should be offered to all races.”