Souza’s body was 95 percent covered with tattoos about two years ago. But when he converted to Christianity, he repented. He realized that his love for tattoos had gotten completely out of hand and wanted them all removed.
“They just didn’t fit me anymore,” Souza tells the Brazilian newspaper O Globo. “It was a world of excesses that I no longer felt good. I felt like a circus attraction.”
Souza had his first tattoo put when he was only 13 years old. Around the age of 25 his marriage broke and he became addicted to drugs. His fascination with tattoos was increasingly turned into an obsession.
Souza recently shared images of his fifth laser treatment. His face is much less covered than before. The Brazilian expects that he needs at least three interventions. “No matter how much anesthesia they use, the pain is terrible.”
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Tattooshop Hello Tatto Studio performs the treatments of Souza. “It is important to remember that tattoos does not determine the character of someone,” the company writes on Instagram.
“A life can transform through choices and the determination to move forward. In that process, welding away tattoos is only a reflection of a much greater inner change, which brings the outer image into line with the new identity.”