In 4 minutes, 100 people explain how they got their scars

I can see not wanting to leave the class unsupervised with power tools, but he should have sent another kid with you.

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Forget the other shit, but
“neglected infection in childhood”!?
Wth

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I’m a woman and mom.
SCARS are Off-topic

I agree. The shop wasn’t even attached to the main school. I had to leave the shop, cut across a basketball court and a parking lot to the get to the back of the main school building. Then another five or so minutes to walk to the office at the front of the school.

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Hmmm…

I’ve lost my left big toenail 3 times. Torn out riding a Flying Turtle Scooter that didn’t belong to me at a house I was unfamiliar with (age 5), fell off twice after a 3-state hike and my foot swelled from the pavement-pounding (2014).
1 on my knee when I fell beneath one of those old stamped-metal merry-go-rounds.
1 on my other knee from jumping off a wall and planting my front tooth in it.
1 on my forehead underneath the hairline when I made a running jump off the stairs, and hit the landing above. This was before suture staples, so they had to shave my head halfway back. I wore a stocking cap for 3/4 of fifth grade. When I have a buzz cut, it looks like the Nike swoosh.
1 appendectomy scar.
1 small mish-mash of scars on the inside of my wrist from carrying an air-cooled VW engine block across the yard because the jack wouldn’t roll through the grass.
1 abrasion from a truck tire when the truck hit me.

My brother got an interesting one on the back of his hand as a toddler when he yanked the cord of our toaster, and it fell on him and lay there for a couple of seconds.

My other brother still has the wires on his sternum after having surgery when his lung collapsed.

So many other injuries, but they don’t involve scars.

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  • Open-heart surgery (x2)
  • Catheterization procedure (left side of groin)
  • Thyroidectomy (x2 again, they only took half each time)
  • Fell down a flight of stairs into some gravel (giving me a weird reverse widow’s peak)
  • C-section

Also I broke my arm once at the elbow and now I can hyperextend my left elbow joint something fierce.

EDIT: I forgot one! First finger of my left hand, where I somehow managed to diagonally cut my fingertip open with scissors. Like, I didn’t just slice it. The two halves of my finger were separating. I was holding the scissors IN that hand, too. I cannot turn to a life of crime because my fingerprint is too distinctive.

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What, no Chasing Amy references?

I am disappoint, Boing Boing.

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Cut my baby finger on my left hand in half with a hedge clippers. It didnt look bad at first, then just flopped in two like a banana skin. Never hurt. Surgeon did a great job sewing it back together and now I just get weird hangnails. The scar has moved inward over time but the nail bed has a weird two-tone look.

Only side effects: 1. I cant close my fist fully, so at toll plazas the dimes fall out. 2. When I play piano my finger locks out and I play certain notes flat. 3. My weakened finger dwells on the Shift key as I type so I tend to capitalize letters accidentally (THanks, HOwever, etc.)

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I’ve an 1.5 inch cut on my inner leg just above the knee from sticking my french knife in it.
Not a slice, a puncture. It’s a cooking mishap.

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Brown recluse bite left a crater in my leg.

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I have a scar down the middle of my chest from triple bypass surgery in 1999.

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Ok, wow!

First…I can clearly see in my mind’s eye your elbow (post-healing) hyperextension and it sounds SCARY! As in, does it hurt when you do that, and is it dangerous for you — is there an increased risk of the joint failing due to your past injury?

One of my fears has always been having an injury which will torment me for the rest of my life.

I’ve been lucky, just a few bike accidents:

One of which was actually pretty serious and should have killed me. This was in Los Angeles, Griffith Park in the 90’s. I would guess that I was coasting downhill at 25-30mph, no helmet, no safety gear at all, in fact wearing only a pair of short white shorts and sneakers, when I hit a pothole and crashed. It was like a surf wipeout! I tumbled, the bike tumbled, I think I flipped over, and I definitely remember sliding on my side and losing momentum before hitting the edge of the road.

It was a good thing I managed to stop before the edge of the road/cliff…since the drop at that point looked to be over 50-75 feet where I crashed! It’s hard to say exactly, as it was a long time ago. But these physically impressive (in the sense of leaving enduring marks on the body) memories remain pretty vivid!

Somehow, from that crash, I have only a smallish scar at my waist where the road removed/severely abraded all of the skin over an 4-5 inch area.

I had the same down the entire left side of my body, but only two scars from this accident, the one at my waist and one on my left shoulder (which has become just a small faint line, less than one inch, where it started as a 2-inch+ area lacking skin!).

Another scar: a teenage puncture to my bicep on a chain link fence, it left a scar that looks somewhat like a sideways lengthened semi-colon. I kind of like that one.:grinning: I was having fun and swung my arm over the fence as I was walking, and this errant edge which stood above the rest of the fence was there when I rammed my arm through what I thought would be empty space!

I also fell partway down a flight of cement stairs with iron/steel joints and severely bruised/fractured my shin. That left a scar on my shin which I like a lot less.

I mean, I probably shouldn’t - due to the injury I’ve had “tennis elbow” flareups from it in the past. I can’t stand knuckle-cracking so I bend my arm the wrong way in retaliation :smiley:
Right now I can’t do it at all. All my arm joints on the left are messed up since that second open-heart surgery was just 8 weeks ago and I’m only barely off the movement restrictions. My elbow sounds like a bowl of Rice Krispies at the moment and the physical therapy nurses won’t even let me use 2lb weights.

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LOL…I just don’t understand knuckle-cracking — mine just don’t do that. But I stretch my fingers and wrists due to the most painful injuries I have ever had—worse than the bike crash: carpal tunnel in both wrists, the pain from which extended up to my shoulders. OMG. That was around a year of pain, and worse when asleep as the body tries to repair itself. Sometimes the pain would wake me up. That’s a real feat, as I can sleep through all kinds of noise, light, etc. Physical therapy, a physical brace for my wrists, and complete restraint as to how I moved my shoulders, wrists, etc for a long time. These are all now my weak points (wrists, shoulders).

I can totally ‘hear’ the rice crispies…aaaak! LOL. Well, thanks for the cringe-laugh. Because sometimes you just have to be amused. After all, we survived these things! Best wishes to you on healing from your heart surgery!

I really liked this video and found the interviewees honest and charming describing the various scars that serve as poignant reminders of the fragility of being human.

I think more people should talk about their scars - both physical and emotional as it creates a real bond among us. They remind us that our bodies can heal from trauma and maybe our psyches can as well.

Pain and injury is something we all share at some point along the way. We should wear our scars proudly as badges of honor and courage.

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Corner of my eye: jumping up and down on the bed when I was four, fell into a bookcase. Got stitches.

Dent in the middle of my forehead: was five or six and ran full speed into a picnic table, hitting one of the 2x4s dead in the corner.

Left hand: falling off a horse, reached instinctively to grab the fence to break the fall. It was a barbed wire fence and it somehow got wrapped round my hand.

Right hand: broken glass jar, cut the side nearly to the bone.

Both arms: oven cleaner overspray from cleaning the rotisserie oven at an old job, because the gloves they gave us weren’t long enough.

Surgery scars.

Top of head: suddenly got dizzy while on a step-stool trying to get something off a high shelf. Woke up in a pool of blood – apparently when I fell I snagged the cord of a clothes iron which fell point down on my head. Clinic initially didn’t believe it was serious (I had someone drive me in) because I was too calm about the whole thing (which, if they knew me, would have been a clue), just sitting there holding a towel on my head. I also, somehow got no blood on my shirt. Six stitches later, the doctor confessed he’d always had nightmares about that sort of thing. I think he was more traumatised than I was. Dent is still in the top of my head, years later.

I have never cut myself with a knife. Not once.

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This reminds me of when my youngest brother did the same with a church pew, blacking his eye. One good reason they say “don’t look back”.

Late to the party here, but wanted to share mine. I’ve got a couple notable ones, but maybe the most “interesting” is the scar on the end of my right pinky.

A blunt sword popped it open like a zit.

Yes, I was wearing appropriate protective gear. I have since learned the limitations of that particular piece of protective gear.

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