Dr. Adair Blackledge-Blackledge Face Center
Dr. Adair Blackledge is a fellowship trained facial plastic surgeon who established the Blackledge Face Center in Jackson, Mississippi in 2003. Dr. Blackledge’s practice and expertise is unique in that he focuses exclusively on the cosmetic rejuvenation of the face, nose and neck. His approach is centered around the belief that natural surgical results should be complimented by a lifelong commitment to intentional skin care that not only makes patients look and feel better, but also prolong their surgical results. Dr. Blackledge became aware of the need to help victims of human trafficking and domestic abuse through his wife and some programs she was involved in with Domestic Abuse Center in Pearl.
Eight years ago he encountered his first patient who was a 24 year old sex slave, who had been sold by her father at 13 for $3000. The man who purchased this girl, married her and she was with him until age 16. She was then sold again to a man here in Jackson where she was put to work as a prostitute and stripper. The “owner” has his named tattooed on the girls’ necks along with a barcode and often times their hourly rate. Dr. Blackledge performs surgery to remove the tattoos. Dr. Blackledge does not use laser, as it removes pigment and leaves residual marks that would still identify the girls. He performs and incision to cut out the tattoo and give them a small scar that they can say is from thyroid surgery. Once the girls have had surgery they are transplanted elsewhere, since it is no longer safe for them to be in Jackson.
Jackson has become a hotbed of this type of Human Trafficking. Jackson is a major interstate connector between Atlanta, New Orleans, Chicago. These girls or boys move in a circuit from Jackson, Atlanta, Memphis, Little Rock, New Orleans and back. Lisa Ling, a renowned investigative reported from CNN, has recently filmed a documentary about Human Trafficking and Dr. Blackledge will be featured.
In addition to tattoo removal for these victims, Dr. Blackledge also provides the same type of tattoo removal for former gang members. The gang members have to go through a 6-month program before they are eligible for the tattoo removal to ensure they are committed to leaving the gang.
Dr. Blackledge’s work can be dangerous and is performed in secrecy with only 3 people involved in each procedure, Dr. Blackledge, a social worker and the victim. Additionally, because of the volatility of these “slave owners”, he has hired an armed guard to be present on the night of the procedure. The increase of victims has risen from performing surgeries on one victim every quarter, to performing surgery weekly.
Dr. Blackledge encouraged our members to get involved with the Domestic Abuse Shelters and donate to them. These shelters work on a very limited budget and do so much to give victims a fresh start.