Bryon Widner’s face was covered in symbols that told a story of violence: a bloodied knife, the word “HATE” tattooed on his knuckles, marks that no employer or stranger could ignore.
Julie, his wife, feared he would end up disfiguring himself. Widner began researching homemade acids because they had no money or health insurance for a surgery that almost no doctor dared to perform. An anonymous donor eventually paid nearly 35.000 dollars so that Dr. Bruce Shack, of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, could try to erase his face with a laser.
The process was so painful that they had to put him under general anesthesia for every session. His skin swelled like that of a battered boxer, with burns that took days to heal. Twenty-five surgeries later, in October 2010, his face was clear. He still has headaches, skin damage on his neck and hands, and nights when he wonders how much harm he caused before deciding to leave it all behind.
