A boutique designed for breast cancer survivors will open its doors next spring in Prince George's County.
Founded by Breast Cancer Surgeon Dr. Regina Hampton, one of the few breast care surgeons in the county, Cherry Blossom Intimates will be a place where survivors can feel beautiful and comfortable with their bodies.
The store, which will be located in Woodmore Town Centre, will sell custom prosthetics and lingerie.
Dr. Hampton tells WUSA9 customers can expect a beautiful shopping experience. In an in-studio interview, she explained that a lot of women have difficulty finding nice garments, which is frustrating.
"For patients who are breast cancer survivors, they had to go to a medical supply store and [hide] behind wheelchairs and canes with just a curtain in order to get fitted for a prostheses," said Dr.Hampton, who specializes in breast cancer surgery at Doctors Community Hospital. " I just said , you know, we've got to do something better."
Dr. Hampton partnered with former Miss District of Columbia USA 2016 Jasmine Jones to bring this vision to life. Jones is the chief operating officer for Cherry Blossom Intimates. Her grandmother passed away from breast cancer during her sophomore year in college. She said she will never forget the challenges her grandmother faced while shopping for prosthetic pieces.
"She'd walk into medical supply stores and go behind a curtain to be fitted for prosthetics that weren't even in her skin tone," Jones said. " They didn't fit right, she wasn't comfortable and eventually she just stopped wearing them."
When thinking about the boutique, Jones said her mother gets emotional because she wishes a store that catered to survivors was around for her grandmother.
The boutique will accommodate women of all ethnic backgrounds and offer each client a chest wall graph in order to mimic natural breast form for prosthetics, nipple coverings and lingerie for women of all shapes, sizes and skin tones, according to Jones.
The boutique will open at Woodmore Town Centre during D.C.'s Cherry Blossom Festival in spring 2018.
