DOCTOR HELPS RECOVERING ADDICTS ERASE SIGNS OF PAST BYLINE: Emily J. Minor DATE: January 3, 2004 PUBLICATION: Palm Beach Post, The (FL) EDITION: FINAL SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: 1B MEMO: Ran all editions. At first, the relationship seems unlikely. Big-time plastic surgeon hobnobbing with the guys over at the halfway house. The producers would have met the couple's two big, goofy, affectionate dogs. They would have gotten a glimpse of the brand-new white Harley - just Sara's size - right next to Michael's big blue one. But, five minutes into the conversation, you realize: Dr. Fred Barr is an oxymoron, a regular unusual guy, with personal baggage like everyone else. Barr, 52, is a plastic surgeon. On a regular work day, he botoxes the rich, lifts and tucks the upper middle class. But what this doctor loves, what he will bend your ear about for hours, is this: Addicts - any kind, from the wealthy to those on welfare. Addicts don't get enough love, enough respect, enough of society's attention. "For people who are in a program, which is what recovery is, and trying to reclaim sane and sober lives, the question is: Would they want to start working on their parts that are visible to others?" The visible parts, like tattoos - which, under certain arrangements, Barr has begun to remove for free if you're a resident of the West Palm Beach halfway house, Born Anew. "Judging books by their covers is what our society does best," Barr says. "We look at somebody who is a down-and-out person. They don't have the new clothes. They don't have nice hair. They may stink because they haven't had a bath. But does that make them less of a person than you and I?" Barr got to this point, this mind-set, through some troubles of his own. A child in an extended family of alcoholics, addiction and the respect recovering addicts deserve is about all Barr can think about some days. He goes to Al Anon meetings. His friends are recovering addicts. He spouts off statistics and flowering quotes, as touching as they are prolific. He also does something so many of us do not. He takes action based on what's inside his head and heart. Right now, Barr is working with former Born Anew resident Michael Counes, a 33-year-old recovering drug and alcohol addict who is having a tattoo removed from his right forearm - a Viking with giant flames, put there at a different time by an entirely different man. Counes is on the Born Anew board now, working a full-time job. Practically covered with tattoos, he wears long-sleeve clothes and pants most of the time. But that Viking on the arm, that's tough to hide in hot weather. Barr was impressed with Counes' recovery, became friends with him and said he'd be happy to remove that giant Viking for him. "These tattoos really have nothing to do with my life today," Counes says. Barr has done this tattoo removal, off and on, through the years. He's been in private practice in the county for 19 years. But only within the past four or five years has the laser technology improved enough to allow him to take off tattoos more easily, with more visible success. If you're about to get yourself inked up for the new year, consider this: Greens and blues are the hardest to get rid of, and professional tattoos are more difficult to remove than amateur ones - because the pigment runs deeper. The bottom line in all this? Barr doesn't need any fancy resolutions about going out and doing something he loves in 2004. He's already there, doing it, although he shoves any accolades aside. "None of this is hearts and flowers stuff," he says. "This is about people reclaiming themselves. "For me, it's selfish. I do this for myself." Counes thinks his friend the plastic surgeon is far more generous than the doctor allows. Dr. Fred Barr, he says, "is all heart." emily_minor@pbpost.com Copyright (c) 2004 Palm Beach Newspapers, Inc.