Man with tattoos on 95% of his body shares removal process

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A Brazil man has taken to social media to explain just how daunting the tattoo removal process is.

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Leandro de Souza has ink on 95% of his body, thanks to 170 tattoos.

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While it earned him the title of “most tattooed” at the Santa Rosa International Tattoo Expo in 2023, his conversion to evangelical Christianity soon after had the photographer rethinking his body ink.

“I didn’t feel good, it didn’t suit me anymore,” he told O Globo.

“It was a world of excess, which no longer did me any good,” de Souza continued.

“There came a time when I felt like a circus attraction.”

So he decided he was going to work on removing them.

De Souza documented the painstaking process on social media, as he aimed to overhaul his life in other ways, from giving up alcohol and drugs, getting a proper job, paying child support and seeking to regain guardianship of his elderly mother.

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It’s been a rough go, and says it’s far worse than getting inked.

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“If you imagine that a person goes there to remove one from their finger and already complains of pain, imagine a session on the entire face, which involves three types of laser,” he told G1.

So far, de Souza has had five sessions on his face, though it could take as many as eight.

He shared the progress on Instagram last week, writing, “After the fifth session of facial tattoo removal, @helltatto. Gratitude, is about Jesus Christ.”

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The work, performed at a studio in the São Paulo area, is being offered free of charged, according to his posts and local reports.

Hell Tattoo, the largest laser centre in Brazil, explained the pro bono work wasn’t less about aesthetics and more about new beginnings.

“Those who follow us already know Leandro’s path — a story marked by great challenges,” the clinic wrote in a caption accompanying an Instagram video of his fifth face treatment.

“He’s been through the prison system, faced chemical addiction and lived on the streets. As he himself reports, he had lost confidence in himself and felt that no one else believed in him either,” Hell continued.

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“Important to remember: tattoos do not define character,” the clinic noted.

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“What transforms a life is choice, effort and determination to move on. In this process, removal is only a reflection of a much greater internal change and which helps to align the external image with the new identity that is being built.”

Between sessions, he ices and applies soothing ointments, and swears by exercise to support his recovery.

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De Souza also shares many side-by-side photos of where he started in this process and what he’s done.

De Souza, who was once a tattoo artist and didn’t have to pay for his face tattoos, admits he regrets it — for himself.

“Today, I don’t tattoo,” he told CNN Brazil.

“I don’t condemn tattoos. But I believe that, after baptism and conversion, there are more important things for us to do, my dear brothers.”

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