India Abraham, a new immigrant from California who is also a medical tattoo artist, is offering free consultations and reduced-rate scar camouflage for victims of the October 7 massacre.
"I felt a desire to give back," the mother of two told The Jerusalem Post. "Being able to heal from the physical scars can help you heal emotionally and mentally. Sometimes, when you look at physical scars, you recall the horrific events [that led to them]."
Typically, a session can cost between NIS 850 and NIS 1,800 or more.
On October 7, hundreds of Hamas terrorists stormed through the Gaza security fence and attacked nearly two dozen towns in southern Israel, murdering more than 1,400 people and taking over 200 captives. They also set fire to whole kibbutzim, burning homes with people holed up inside them. In many cases, those who survived were severely injured.
Abraham runs the Feel Your Whole Self cosmetic tattoo clinic, which she recently launched alongside her successful Lacque Luster Beauty Bar boutique. She performs several types of medical tattoos, including recreating the areola and nipple post-mastectomy for breast cancer patients. But another specialty is what she calls scar camouflage.
"Clients come in for a consultation," Abraham explained. "We look at the scars to see what happened and how they healed. Some scars appear a bit raised. Some can be discolored. Then, we create a plan to neutralize discoloration. If a scar is purple or healed dark, we neutralize those colors; then, using the client's skin color, we go over the scars until they are skin color."
Abraham uses different tattoo pigments - customized colors - to match every person's skin. The number of sessions required can differ depending on the injury, size, and the scar's nature.
Recently, unrelated to October 7, she performed scar camouflage for an IDF soldier who required knee surgery after she was injured in an operation.
"She wanted to fix the scar because it made her self-conscious," Abraham said.
Abraham also provides a new "inkless method, which is cool because it uses a serum, and what the serum does is it goes inside the skin and helps it reproduce the collagen and elastin. This is very good for burn victims."
She explained that many burn victims have what are called "contractures" - scars across joints that can cause a decrease in one's ability to move.
"We can go in and use the inkless method to help with range of motion again," Abraham said.
Abraham made aliyah almost three years ago. She has degrees in public health and biology. But she was always very creative.
"The biggest thing for me was trying to figure out how to merge those two, and medical tattooing did that for me. It is like the perfect marriage for me. I don't have to choose between my two sides," she told the Post.
Innovative treatments for victims
Separately, at Sheba Medical Center's Burn Clinic, Dr. Josef Haik is also offering an innovative approach to helping people who were burned in the massacre: NexoBrid treatment - a mixture of proteolytic enzymes extracted from the stems of pineapple plants that dissolves burn wound necrotic tissue while preserving viable tissue.
Haik told the Post that the treatment can often prevent patients from undergoing painful and dangerous surgeries or skin grafts.
NexoBrid was developed by Israel's MediWound and recently received approval from the US Food & Drug Administration. Haik has been using the treatment for nearly a decade, making him one of the foremost experts on the treatment in the world.
He is treating a family of three from Kfar Aza, who were held up in their safety room when Hamas entered the kibbutz. Terrorists attempted to burn the mother, father and 14-month-old baby alive. Although the family managed to escape, they all had severe burns and inhalation-related injuries. The father was burned on 50% of his body, the mother on 60%, and the baby on 30%.
"We took advantage of them being intubated and treated their whole bodies with this marvelous pharmaceutical, and, as of today, we are sure none of them will go through surgery," Haik said.