Plastic surgeons are usually celebrated for face-lifts and tummy tucks. But Glendale surgeon Roger Mixter has a far more unusual specialty.
Four times a year, Mixter heads to the Boys & Girls Club on West Rogers Street, where he removes tattoos from former gangbangers. He averages 20 tattoo removals per visit, and all he asks in return is that each person commit to doing up to 100 hours of community service.
Mixter, the medical director of Laser Centers of Wisconsin, helped start the Wisconsin Tattoo Removal Program in Beloit in the early ’90s. When his practice moved to Glendale in 1998, he brought the program here.
There are typically two ways to leave a gang, he says: Getting “killed out” (beaten up by fellow gang members in a brutal 15-minute session) or finding religion. Removing tattoos can help with the transition, Mixter notes, but it’s no guarantee the youth will stay out. “You never really know until they’re out for years,” he adds.
Indeed, experts at Milwaukee County Children’s Court say ex-members have a 90 percent chance of returning to a gang. But the tattoo removal program cuts the number in half, Mixter says.
Shawn, 34, says he was born into a gang and stayed with it until 1994. He recently had a tattoo removed by Mixter. “I knew I wasn’t in a gang anymore but other people didn’t,” he says. “When I leave this earth, I don’t want to meet my maker with tattoos.” Many people Mixter helps are younger, like David, 16, who says he’s doing it so he can join the military.
The tattoos Mixter removes often have crime-related meanings, like a teardrop on the upper cheek (killed someone) or a spider web on the elbow (spent time in jail). Because most are done by amateurs, they come off much easier than professionally applied tattoos, usually taking just 30 seconds to 20 minutes.
“Tattoos are a real taboo when applying for employment,” says Doris Appelbaum of Appelbaum’s Résumé Professionals. “You have two choices: Cover them or have them removed.”
