I am a medical student. I suffered from recurrent depression as a child (12 onwards) and have forearms covered in white self-harm scars. I haven't cut myself since I was 19 and am now 27.
NHS policy is "bare below the elbows". My scars are like a network that covers every inch of skin. All flat and faded as much as they ever will be.
They are instantly recognisable as what they are, to anyone who has any familiarity with DSH.
I have tried camouflage make-up, but it rubs off, and is apparently an infection control risk.
There's nothing I can really do about them, but I want to help people. So, Mumsnet, please tell me how you feel: would you want me as your doctor if you saw my arms? Would you see me as less capable of taking care of you?
Thank you.
AIBU?
AIBU to practice medicine with self-harm scars?
OmarComin · 04/09/2016 16:16
Wouldn't bother me, Tbh I always look at faces. Your scars show you dealt and been through your own stuff, surely that can only be a big plus in medicine?
Good luck to you 
Thank you for replying, friendly Mumsnet users. I'm genuinely overwhelmed by your positive responses. I was bracing myself for the worst. You've given me the confidence to go out on my first placement without trying to hide away. 
It wouldn't bother me. Because I'd assume you'd been 'screened' and trained and are aware of the need to look after yourself. I'd be anxious to see a therapist, not a psychiatrist, with SH scars as I'm less confident that they'd have adequate clinical supervision.
to you for getting on to the course and getting through whatever triggered the SH. Do you think you might specialise in MH?
I'd like to work in psychiatry, it's where my heart has always been. My mum is a counsellor and I grew up with an awareness of how vulnerable those with mental health problems are.
As a patient myself, I've had some excellent and some terrible psychiatrists. I was an in-patient for a month at one stage and built strong relationships with my fellow patients. I also realised that I was comparatively privileged, because most were from very poor backgrounds or had no family at all. It made me want to help.
I also want to work with addiction and drug abuse because I had two partners who were drug addicts and have always felt that I connect/understand those struggling with addiction. But when they're my patients there's that distance, and I can actually help, whereas in my personal life it was codependent and I wasn't helping.
I've been to many conferences about psychiatry and every time I go to an event it cements my desire further. I've always been around those with MH problems, for whatever reason. My friend committed suicide at 18. I know the job is tough and there's tricky ethical decisions like having to section under the mental health act, but I feel there's a space for me somewhere amongst all the sub-specialties, whether it's learning disability psych, paeds, general adult or addictions.
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