Oklahoma Plastic Surgeons ‘Erase The Hate’ In Tattoo Removal Campaign

A local plastic surgery office is helping to ‘Erase the Hate’ from the community, by removing tattoos for free. 

About 200 people applied to have gang and hate-related tattoos taken off their bodies. Most of the 22 who were selected would not dream of being able to afford the service, but they have changed their lives for the better and want their bodies to reflect that.

See Related Story: Oklahoma Plastic Surgeon Offers To Remove Hate, Gang-Related Tattoos For Free

“When I checked it out, I said great! This is me right here,” said Scott May.

May was just the kind of person Oklahoma Plastic Surgeons were trying to help.

May explained, “When I was younger, I followed the wrong leaders and got off into a Satanic cult.”

His body is covered after spending 20 years in prison, but as a free man, May is now a Christian. That has made the crown of thorns with horns on his forehead problematic, to say the least.

Dr. Clinton Webster explained of the process, “It’s somewhat of a demolition team that’s done with the laser to allow that ink to be removed from the skin.”

Webster's team is giving away about $100,000 in free services for their first ‘Erase The Hate’ program.

“How overt it was, its location, were really the things that we brought into account,” the surgeon said.

One former member of a white supremacist gang regretted his swastika tattoos so much that he removed some of them himself.

During his procedure, he told the nurse, “My daughter calls these mazes. She said, ‘Are you going to get the mazes removed?’”

“The goal is not to stamp out tattoo art,” Webster said. “I think it’s awesome. A lot of it is fantastic. It’s really to remove those emblems that we really don’t want to bear anymore.”

A young mother who has gang tattoos on her face and the word ‘REDRUM’ across her neck told me, “I don’t really get luck with these things, so I was very excited.”

She does not want her past to affect her son's future.

“I can be able to get better jobs, just be more presentable for life and for my son,” she said.

It will take more than one sitting for most of them, but the results are already clear. The selected few will endure a little bit of pain for an immense gain.