Esthetician donates services to those who have experienced trauma

LYNNWOOD — They have suffered an appearance-altering trauma, and she’s helping them look more like themselves again.

Dawn Hunter, a Lynnwood esthetician, is donating her services to those who have experienced a medical condition or injury that has changed their physical features.

She has donated such things as permanent cosmetics or skin treatments to one patient a month for the past three years. Many of the people who have received her help are burn victims or cancer patients who have lost their hair, eyebrows and eyelashes during chemotherapy.

“It’s such an important identity thing to them,” said Hunter, who is a former chiropractor.

Permanent makeup can be used to tattoo three-dimensional eyebrows on a person’s face. It can also be used as eyeliner to make the loss of lashes less noticeable.

“You’d never know it was permanent makeup,” Hunter said. “It’s very realistic, very natural.”

Hunter uses skin pigmentation treatments to cover up scars, uneven skin tone and changes in the body caused by breast cancer surgeries.

“Just like you can do art on a canvas, you can do art on the skin,” Hunter said. “It helps the patient to feel whole again.”

Tera Martin, of Sammamish, was diagnosed with breast cancer at 28. Her mother was fighting breast cancer when she discovered through a self-exam that she, too, had the disease. She had a double mastectomy and went through six months of chemotherapy.

Martin’s long, brown hair fell out. She lost her eyebrows and lashes.

“Losing my eyebrows and lashes was the worst part,” said Martin, now 30. “It takes away your femininity. At that point, you just feel sick.”

Martin, who holds past beauty pageant titles, said she was nervous about getting permanent cosmetics at first. But she did some research and decided to give it a go. Martin had her eyebrows done at Hunter’s Lynnwood practice this past November.

“The work she did was spectacular,” Martin said. “I feel more feminine and gorgeous. More myself, I would say.”

After the chemotherapy, Martin enjoyed eight months of remission before her cancer came back. In the next eight months she plans to have two surgeries and do radiation therapy. She expects to do hormone therapy for five years.

Despite the cancer, Martin plans to continue her work with the Pink Gene Foundation. She founded the nonprofit in 2013 to raise money for cancer research and support other young women with breast cancer.

It was stories like Martin’s that made Hunter want to help patients who have had their appearance altered.

“To give them back that sense of self feels good,” she said.

Now she’s working with local doctors to make sure they know such help is available for patients after surgeries. She’s also looking for charities that might be able to help cover the cost of treating more people.

Amy Nile: 425-339-3192; anile@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @AmyNileReports.

Learn more

For more information about Dawn Hunter’s services, call 206-235-9347 or go to dawnhunter.net.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.