She makes tattoos that nobody sees. But she has hundreds of clients!

Meet Basma Hameed, a para-medical tattoo specialist
who helps restore burn victims natural color of skin.
She was severely burned by hot oil in a kitchen accident
when she was 2 years old. Although she underwent
more than 100 procedures in an attempt to conceal her
third-degree burns, parts of her face were still scarred
and discolored.
After getting her eyebrows permanently tattooed on,
Hameed had an epiphany.
“I saw the result immediately,” she told. “I was so happy
that I thought to myself – why not do the same
procedure using skin tone pigments on my scar tissue,
to camouflage the discoloration.”
Hameed received training and cosmetically tattooed her
own face, closely matching her original pigments.
Today, Hameed has clinics in Toronto and Chicago and
lends her skills to a variety of patients.
One of her clients is Samira Omar – a 17-year-old who
was beaten and had boiling water poured on her by
bullies. Omar is being treated free of charge by
Hameed’s foundation. She says the paramedical tattoo
specialist has renewed her sense of hope.
“When she told me she could actually get my pigments
back and find a skin color that could match my actual
skin color, it’s just a big sigh of relief,” Omar told.
It’s exactly the emotion Hameed set out to inspire in her
clients.
“When I first meet my clients they can be so shy and
insecure about their respective skin conditions, but once
we do few treatments they are like brand new people,”
she told. “They smile, they laugh, and most importantly
they feel like they can live again.