Aibu to ask about your scars?

[FloweringOrchid]

I had a recent thread running about having an abscess in my lip. Unfortunately I think it is going to scar.

It got me thinking about scars and the stories behind them.

I have a scar running across my arse cheek from sitting on my hair straighteners as a teen. That was fun when it went all scabby and stuck to my school tights. I have a small scar on my finger from slicing straight through a bagel, and a fag burn scar on my hand from my drunk friend (again as a teen). I also have the obligatory pregnancy stretch marks that still resemble a british road map 6 years on

So, what scars do you have and what are the stories behind them?

Four scars from keyhole surgery - two are proper raised x-marks-the-spot type ones. Must admit I love them, but then i'm a bit weird like that! Lots of small chicken pox scars. Leg shaving scar (what an eejit!)

Chicken pox scars on my chest, a nasty one on my leg from my cat (by accident) and a small one on my other leg where I was hit by a small rockfall on a beach! Also numerous burns on my forearms because I don’t respect that the oven is hot, and scars on my knees because I’m horribly clumsy.

Small scar by my eye from when I ran into the corner of my arm age 6, I was millimetres away from taking my eye out and needed 3 stitches.

Larger scar on my arm from where I set it on fire aged 21 doing fire chains at a rave (day 3 of no sleep and quite a few drugs involved). The chains twisted tightly around arm and I couldn’t get them off, I stood there watching my arm peel away in the flames. Not one of my better ideas.

I have a few.....

• 12cm scar running down my forehead from my hairline down to my eyebrow from the lock of a door being opened onto me in Year 1.
• Several chickenpox scars (Year 3).
• 4 x 2.5cm scars from malignant mole removals (Year 6).
• Multiple pinpoint scars on my inner elbow from each time I've had blood tests (too many to count).
• Abdominal scars from 6+ keyhole/laparoscopic surgeries.
• 25cm+ scar from the top of the back of my head down my neck from 3 x skull/spine/spinal cord/brain neurosurgeries (a major scar revision during the last surgery tidied it up somewhat).
• 15cm scar running perfectly vertically along my sacral spine from spinal surgery (it looks like an absurd extension of my bum crack 😳).
• 2cm scar running from the outer corner of my eye towards my ear (malignancy removal).
• Multiple 10-12cm scars on my (generous) behind for my neurostimulator implant, and then for the battery replacement.
• Caesarean section scar.
• 20cm scar running parallel to my caesarean scar from surgery due to massive infection 2 weeks after caesarean.
• Many small scars on hands, fingers, arms, legs, etc from insect bites, allergic reactions, scratches (skin scars very easily).
• Many other surgery scars from many surgeries.
• Will have some more in 4 weeks as just found out today I need more gastro surgery at the end of the month (will be my 5th gastro operation in the last 11 months).

Corner of a picnic table, not my arm

Not a scar, but I have a massive dent across my arse cheek from falling down a flight of stairs a few years ago.

Scar on neck from tracheostomy (well had 2 trachys but 1 scar) drs often comment on it even if there for something unrelated. Also people who have had one sometimes comment sort of like a special club.
Scar to head from jumping into wall off a swing age 3.
Scar to my arm from a biopsy.
Scar to my neck higher up from surgery, barely visible even though it looked horrendous at time with loads of staples.
Scar under boob from rib graft.
Patch of skin missing from thigh from thigh graft.

A rather lovely wrinkly one on the fleshy bit at the side of my knee from accidentally smashing a smirnoff bottle on it.

One on my thumb from playing with a razor as a child.

A line across my forearm where I rather sensibly checked if my craft blade was still sharp enough, it was clealy I wasn't though

A hole in my forehead from bending right onto a pencil tidy thing.

Up both sides of my wrists, at least 50 wee white dotty scars from iv lines.

A circle on my spine from burning it off a lightbulb at brownie camp.

I would say I'm quite a smart person but ffs what a tit I am!

Lscs scar from my 1st child who got stuck. I call it my 'gruesome smile'.

3 small scars from keyhole surgery to remove my gallbladder.

BCG scar on my left arm. It went all manky and oozed green pus for months and the scar is quite big.

Scar on my forehead from when my sister either hit me or pushed me and I fell against one of those huge whisky bottles. I was about 3 I think. When I was 22 I walked into the big metal gate in the car park at work and cut it in the same place so made the scar deeper.

Scar on my right index finger from when I was messing around with a sharp knife. I was about 16.

Scar on my wrist from when my sister and I were arguing. I slammed the door so hard that my hand went through the glass. The neighbours heard and took me to hospital.

A c-section scar which is really quite neat - the Doctor joked that she liked to do cross stitch in her spare time!

A scar on the right side of my neck from a lymph node biopsy to determine which type of Hodgkins Lymphoma I had ( nodular sclerosing apparently!)

One coming down from my belly button and three small ones on my abdomen from Keyhole surgery to remove my gallbladder.

One on my ankle from my first attempt at shaving my legs age 11. My parents went mad.
One on my right arm from when I was a student nurse and a patient with mental health problems took a swing at me with a tree branch during a day visit to some local woods.

C section scars

One on my wrist from molten cauliflower cheese spitting at me

One on my knee when I slipped with a Stanley knife

One on my forehead when my brothers were swinging me by my arms and legs and let go off me into an electric fire

I have one on my nose from a deer antler.

I sometimes leave it there but for the sake of accuracy I'll add it was a wooden deer about 6" tall. It fell on me from a bookcase when I was about 3yo.

I have one in my thumb from instinctively trying to catch the things falling off the kitchen worktop. Unfortunately the only thing I grabbed was the sharp knife.

I have a small one under my arm from when my brother tried to kick me when I was ironing and the iron went into me.

I have a number of scars over my forearms which are little dots. I don't usually admit they're scars, they just look like I tan unevenly really. They're from when I went through a stage a nipping myself in my teens. I told DM I was bitten by a fly and she believed me. She spent months trying to make sure that there were no flies in the room, and worrying because the marks were still appearing.

Not one till I had TKR aged 58. Now I have a vertical one down my left knee. I really don’t mind it, or the fact that people notice it. It’s a talking point with people contemplating the surgery and I’m happy to share my experience.

Pretty much my entire right leg from hip to ankle is just a scar. The initial injury, burns and then numerous surgeries have left it a roadmap of scarring.
Surgical scar on my left wrist from having pins placed after breaking it quite badly when I was a kid.
Some minor self harm scars on my hips and forearm from my teenage years.
A couple of shingles scars on my left side.
One on the back of my head (covered by my hair!), from coming off my bike and hitting my head on the kerb when I was 11.
One between my eyebrows from fighting with the corner of a kitchen cupboard....the cupboard won.

Hamster bite on my finger, must be about 30 years ago! And a burn on my hand from the grill when I was a teenager. Remember it like it was yesterday!

C- section

Two scars on my forearm, from burning them on oven shelves.

One scar on my left hand , cut with a wallpaper scraper while decorating in 1997. I look at it every time I strip wallpaper!

Small scar on the side of my neck, from having a cyst removed at 3 months old (don't remember that one).

I'm pretty blemish-free, to be honest.

Scar on upper left arm from hair curlers ,scar that looks like a division symbol on the back of my left hand where my friend accidentally sliced it open with a box cutter ,have several small scars on my hands from knife cuts received when I worked in a deli.Also have lots of stretch marks on my sides which appeared during teens.They are now faded and silvery but were very red, raised and glaringly obvious for a long time and led to lots of people commenting on them thinking they were scars from an accident

Also have small silvery scars on my groin from larscopy surgery

I have three "smilies" on my arm from being drunk and stupid as a teen.

I also have a slice on my finger from being drunk and trying to open a can of corned beef.

T shaped scar on my breast from lumpectomy for breast cancer 12 years ago.It tells me I have survived so far when so many women haven’t. I had triple negative bc which is an aggressive one. I was lucky.
Lots of cat scratch scars on the backs of my hands, nothing else really.

Forgot to mention the teeth mark scars our 4 foot iguana kindly left me on my arm. Stung like a bitch for weeks!!

A scar on my back from kidney surgery, plus another one much higher up from being knocked backwards on an escalator as a child - it looked like I'd been scratched by a tiger for weeks, but the scar is fairly small.

I too have a few on my hands from IVs and one on my right wrist from accidentally slashing myself with a scalpel.

I have three that are mysteries to me: one on my lower left leg, one just below my eyebrow and one on my upper chest. The one below my eyebrow is a dot and the other two are lines... I've never had acne or chickenpox etc and don't ever recall injuries in those places.

One on my foot from an unfortunate incident with a pair of flip flops that my Dad bought me on holiday (aged 9)

Small one on my arm when my Dad was playing with our border collie but got it too worked up and it then bit me (aged 7)

One on my knee when I got new roller skates and my Dad was a bit over enthusiastic about lubricating the wheels (old 70s style metal skates) and I skidded into a metal strut sticking out of our garage (aged 8)

My Dad and growing up in the 70s - lethal combination

I have a scar on my side from when I was born by EMCS. I was transverse lie. My DM's EMCS scar goes down not across.

I'm 50 and it's still clearly visible. They were obviously in a hurry to get me out and I'm very grateful for it!!

I have a scar about 7-8cm long on my right arm from falling through a vestibule door when I was a youngster! Love my scar, it's been part of me for so long

I have large scar under my ribs from old-fashioned gall bladder op. A scar hidden neatly under the pubes from Hysterectomy. And a large scar with stitch marks on my elbow where I smashed it to pieces and it had to be jigsawed back together - DGC are very interested in the stitch marks - they sewed you up!!?? - with a needle??!!.