photo by: Joselyn King

Ashley Sutton, owner of Moonlight Intimate Apparel in Centre Market, shows a silicone bra insert used by women who have had mastectomies or lumpectomies. She is selling them in her shop at wholesale cost.

WHEELING — The mission of Moonlight Intimate Apparel in Centre Market is to make women feel better about themselves, explains owner Ashley Sutton.

That is why she is now offering for sale in her store bra inserts for mastectomy and lumpectomy patients at a wholesale discount.

“We’ve had a lot of women come in who have had mastectomies or lumpectomies, and the biggest thing that I hear is ‘I would love to have an insert, but I just can’t afford one,'” Sutton said.

Insurance companies generally offers just minimal coverage for the inserts, she continued.

“It (an insert) is really not technically a necessity, but it is,” she said. “The reason I opened this place in the first place is to make people feel good about themselves. ”

Moonlight is also all-size-inclusive, and having the inserts went along with that thinking, Sutton continued. One client at Moonlight told Sutton she had had a double mastectomy, and hadn’t worn lingerie or a swimsuit since then because “she doesn’t feel good anymore when she wears these things.”

“We had another client come in a couple of weeks ago who had had a partial mastectomy. The inserts were too expensive for her to buy so she was using bra cups as an insert instead — and she used five or six of them just to make her feel ‘normal,'” Sutton continued.

“It’s such a little thing in the scheme of things. They have survived something really traumatic, and they are survivors. At the same time, it does put a nick in their confidence.”

Sutton noted she had a lumpectomy last year.

“I didn’t have anything done as radical as they had done, but I know how it affected me,” she said. “You have scars from it. Other people might not notice it, but I notice it with them. I just wanted to find something we could offer.”

Moonlight sells the bras in which inserts can be placed, but before now didn’t sell the inserts — which can cost as much as $50 each.

Sutton decided she wanted to offer the inserts at cost to mastectomy and lumpectomy patients, though most provider companies she contacted would not agree to allow her to price them that cheaply.

Just one — Be Wicked — agreed to allow Sutton to sell the inserts at wholesale cost. Their price at Moonlight is $17.50 each after the discount for mastectomy and lumpectomy patients. For now, they only come in caucasian color but Sutton hopes to have more options in the future.

It’s nice to do something for someone after they have gone through a traumatic surgery, she noted.

“It’s invasive, and it changes your outlook not only on yourself but your body, as well.” she said.