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Face 2 Face Mail Tribune / Jim Craven John Malkow, 54, receives his 34th laser treatment from Sharon Bauer at Dr. Douglas Naversen's Medford clinic. The treatments are removing unwanted pigments that "stained" his face in a chemical explosion more than 30 years ago. After 34 laser treatments and 32 years, John Malkow can deal with his future and his past ... By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune For 31 years, John Malkow didn't know why people treated him so rudely. Blinded by an explosion at the age of 20, Malkow couldn't see the fierce black markings the accident left on his face. He could only imagine his visage from the things people said. A policeman once told him to wash his face before he came to town. People taunted him with the meanest racial epithets. Strangers asked, "What the hell happened to you?" Malkow was mixing chemicals with a tongue depressor as a 20-year-old Army medic when an explosion blew off his right thumb, stole his sight and stained his face. After the accident, he and his wife, Anita, settled in rural Josephine County, raising two daughters and growing their own food to supplement his disability pension. He finally understood why people treated him so callously in 1999. Corneal transplant surgery restored sight in his left eye. When he finally collected the courage to look in the mirror, his cheeks seemed to be smeared with thick black paint. Dark ebony circles ringed his eyes, and ominous dark splotches covered his chin. "Blindness was a grace," he said. "I couldn't believe my family had endured that for 32 years. If I'd known what I looked like, I would have committed suicide." His vision restored, Malkow began a quest for a normal face. Over the years, doctors had tried dermabrasion - scraping off the surface layer of his skin - to remove the silver nitrate that marked him. The results were disappointing. The offending pigments were buried too deep. Malkow thought the stains were a life sentence until he met Dr. Douglas Naversen, a Medford dermatologist. Naversen's the man Southern Oregon residents see when they want to rid themselves of tattoos, liver spots or birthmarks. Naversen uses medical lasers to remove unwanted pigments in the skin. The laser focuses light energy on clumps of pigment in the skin without damaging surrounding tissue. The sudden burst of heat (nearly 300 degrees Celsius) from the laser light vaporizes the pigment chunks into microscopic pieces that can be carried away by the body's own garbage collectors - cells known as macrophages. "The laser dynamites the pigment," Naversen said, explaining the process in layman's language. "It vaporizes (the pigment) so it can be processed by the lymph glands." When Naversen heard Malkow's story, he wanted to help. "He had lived like that so long," Naversen said. "Everyone told him there was no hope. "John's a real handsome man, but there was no way to know that." Using essentially the same technique that melts away tattoos and birthmarks, laser technician Sharon Bauer began chipping away at Malkow's facial stains in April 2000. She started each session swathing his face with anesthetic ointment to blunt the pain. "Imagine a white-hot nail coming at you at 500 miles an hour," Malkow said. "That's what it feels like. If you can imagine an arc welder running across your face, that's just about what we're doing." Malkow's treatment last week, his 34th, lasted just 10 minutes. These days, Bauer has to search for tiny, residual dark spots to blast with the laser, and Malkow looks pretty much like any other middle-aged man whose features have been weathered by years outdoors. Naversen said Malkow has been the most challenging case he's seen since he began using lasers for dermatology in 1997. He's scheduled to make a presentation about Malkow's treatments in February when the American Academy of Dermatology holds its annual meeting in New Orleans. Malkow feels grateful for becoming just another face in a crowd. "All I ever wanted to be was a regular guy," he said. "People come up and start a conversation these days instead of shunning me." Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.