Man who was covered in tattoos shares incredible transformation after having painful surgery to remove them from his face

He was the most tattooed man in Brazil before he decided to remove the ink that was etched on a whopping 95 percent of his body.

Leandro de Souza has undergone two laser treatments so far as part of the process to remove tattoos spanning more than two decades – the first was when he was a young teenager.

The 35-year-old photographer, who lives in the Brazilian border town of Bagé near Uruguay, decided to have more than 170 tattoos removed after welcoming evangelism into his life.

“I made the first one when I was 13,” de Souza told Brazilian online news outlet G1. “The first ones were mostly about the idolatry of the time.”

Leandro de Souza decided to remove the tattoos from his body after visiting a shelter in the Brazilian city of Bagé, following a battle with alcohol and drug abuse

An earlier photo of Leandro de Souza as he was on his way to tattoo 95 percent of his body

The tattoos are inspired by the favorite rock bands of the moment: Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses and Metallica.

De Souza took a dark path 10 years ago when he divorced his wife.

The split with the mother of his 10-year-old son resulted in him using cocaine for the first time for nine years, and then mixed drugs such as ecstasy, LSD and alcohol.

“I couldn’t stand the life I was living anymore,” he said. “I was an attraction at (the events I attended) and I felt like a circus animal.”

De Souza got a new perspective on life when he visited a shelter and was introduced to evangelism.

“The first step in anything in life is accepting that you can’t do it alone, that you’re an addict, that you’re a drug addict,” de Souza said.

‘And I succeeded, I went to the municipal shelter in Bagé. Within a week there was a lady who referred me and started evangelizing me.’

Leandro de Souza has decided to remove the tattoos that cover 95 percent of his body

Leandro de Souza became embroiled in a battle with drug and alcohol addiction after divorcing his wife 10 years ago and turning his life around after visiting a local shelter, where he was introduced to evangelism

De Souza converted to the faith two years ago and preached to “parents and children in prisons.”

A tattoo parlor in Franco da Rocha, São Paulo heard how de Souza turned his life around – on April 14, he celebrated his birthday and was free of drugs and cigarettes for a year. He has not drunk alcohol for more than three years.

De Souza must undergo six more sessions, which take place every three months and last 30 to 40 minutes.

“It hurts a lot more than doing it,” he said. “It hurts three times more than doing it. Even with anesthesia, the process is very painful.”