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So who here over 40 is scar free?

I got my worst scar when I was eight years old in grade 3 playing football in the school yard. I tackled Tony Holenstien and in so doing fell on a shard of broken Coke bottle. At first my major concern was that I had cut my new pants and my Mom was going to be mad at me but when the blood started to literally gush out I realized that it wasn't only my new pants that were cut.

I ran to the school, seemingly miles away at the time, and into the nurses office with blood flowing down my leg and soaking my pants and shoe. The nurse wanted to see the wound but my pants were so soaked with blood that they were stuck to my leg and I couldn't roll the leg up and instead had to pull my pants down and there was a four inch gash that was welling and pumping out blood in time with my heart beat. The cut was just below my knee...

The doctor at the hospital put in 10 stitches which proved to be inadequate because once they were removed and I was playing at recess a few week later I fell on the same leg and the cut tore open again. This time because the tissue was still so new and fragile that they couldn't put in stitches and I had to have butterfly bandages applied and changed daily for about three weeks.

The doctor that I saw who tended to the wound the second time asked my mother who had put in the stitches the first time and all she could tell him was that it was a doctor in the ER. He shook his head and said that I should have had 20 stitches and not ten.

I have received many far less serious scars since then and wear each one as a either a badge of honour or stupidity....

So who else here has scars they want to tell a story about or amazingly remains scar free?

If you are scar free you either are not living live dangerously enough, or are extremely lucky!

Back in the early 60s I was working at a letterpress newspaper where all production involved working with lead. All lead was cast into its various shapes and fonts from 'pots' of liquid lead kept at 612° fahrenheit.

While operating a linotype one day, I had a splash, the common term for the mold not properly sealed and hot metal being injected out of the mold and squirted. When I heard the distinctive sound of a failed lockup, I pushed myself away from the machine on the wheeled operators chair with my right arm. With the arm fully extended and not yet retracted from the push, the molten metal hit me right in the inner crook of my elbow. Of course, when I felt the pain, I snatched my arm into my body, thereby setting the molten metal which had now solidified onto my skin and kept on burning me.

I rushed to the cold water tap and ran the cold water over the area. I could not straighten my arm as the molten metal had burned deeply into the skin and solidified, so it tried to tear itself out.

I was taken to the hospital where a doctor took a scalpel to my arm to cut our the metal. When he was about to begin, I said to him, aren't you going to freeze it first? He looked at me and smiled and said, son, that is so badly burned I guarantee you won't feel a thing. He proceeded to cut the metal and most of my skin out of the arm. Then he cleaned the area and covered it with a Sofra-Tulle dressing.

That dressing had to be changed twice daily and my wife who is an RN looked after it for the eight weeks it took to form new scar tissue to cover the burn. That scar, about three inches long and a half inch wide has been visible on my arm now for over 45 years and people who notice it always ask what happened.

My arm was in a brace which did not allow me to bend it for those eight weeks lest I tore the area open again. They called me 'straight arm' at work for a long time after.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/46939750/Linked%20Photos/armburn.jpg

I've only had two stitches, and since they were in the top of my head, I have not seen the scar. Although I have many small visible scars, the only one of interest is on my right hand. It's about half an inch long, and it's from a rabbit bite.

Back in the early 60s I was working at a letterpress newspaper where all production involved working with lead. All lead was cast into its various shapes and fonts from 'pots' of liquid lead kept at 612° fahrenheit...

Ohhhwww!!!! :-(

SINC, strangely that scar on your arm looks a little like the one on my leg (I should probably post a pic a little later). I can't imagine how much that would have hurt as burn pains are just about the worst.

Ironically the only pain I felt with my cut in grade 3 was from the freezing which were a series of injections into the wound site.... and the pain actually burned like hell. For an eight year old it was excruciating and the worst pain I had ever felt in my life... I may feel it differently if it were to have happened now but at the time I thought "Why are you doing this? It couldn't possibly hurt any worse than this without the freezing".

I've only had two stitches, and since they were in the top of my head, I have not seen the scar. Although I have many small visible scars, the only one of interest is on my right hand. It's about half an inch long, and it's from a rabbit bite.

Not from the one in the Holy Grail then I guess...

Three inch scar on elbow. I was using a push mower and forced my elbows backward, only to have one hook on the barbs of a barb-wire fence...

Seven inch scar on left leg. Climbing a tree when the branch broke. I fell into a thorn bush.

Thick scar along top joint of middle finger of right hand. Father accidentally reversed riding lawnmower tractor as I was hooking up the hitch to a cart. I removed the stitches myself when they got too itchy later in the summer, watching the little pieces of thread disappear through the holes and coming out the other side.

40 years later and it looks like this...

23512

Ohhhwww!!!! :-(

SINC, strangely that scar on your arm looks a little like the one on my leg (I should probably post a pic a little later). I can't imagine how much that would have hurt as burn pains are just about the worst.

Actually, I call it my little map of Italy tatoo. Has the boot shape and all! :D

Three inch scar on elbow. I was using a push mower and forced my elbows backward, only to have one hook on the barbs of a barb-wire fence...

Seven inch scar on left leg. Climbing a tree when the branch broke. I fell into a thorn bush.

Thick scar along top joint of middle finger of right hand. Father accidentally reversed riding lawnmower tractor as I was hooking up the hitch to a cart. I removed the stitches myself when they got too itchy later in the summer, watching the little pieces of thread disappear through the holes and coming out the other side.

Cool...

When I was about 20, I had a big roll on a lift fall back on me and I didn't get my foot out in time (like sinc, in a printing place), the metal items had managed to slice the big toe just at the back of the nail, almost severing that portion completely.

In emergency, the available surgeon there who sewed it all back together, was a breast surgeon. So, all my followup visits was at his practice, and I was always greeted by amused, attractive *cough* well endowed ladies.

The joke has always been that I had a nipple sewed onto my toe.

I've still got 13 years before 40.. But being an extreme sports fan, I've got a good number of scars...

Biggest one is on my back.. I had surgery last May, which left a massive scar (7 herniated disks).. I've got a really good one on my left bicep.. Back in 2005 I had a snow boarding accident.. Put a tree limb through my arm.. Destroyed all the muscle in my bicep, and was in this hospital for about 2 weeks.. Most of the muscle has grown back, but I still don't have 100% use of it.

I have lots more too.. My wife says I'm pretty accident prone!


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Again I have a long way to go till my 40's lol! 16 years if anyones counting. But I just have tiny little scars here and there. Cuts and chunks of metal from using a metal grinder with out any PPE. Oh while working at a popular automotive parts and accessories (as well as hardware, sports and housewares) store; I used to fill batteries with sulphuric acid and then charge them. The supplied gloves were so old they leaked and any acid would pool up in the fingers so... I have a lot of acid burns on my finger tips from back then.

I have dysplastic moles, so every year I go to see the dermatologist for a check up and what I refer to as my annual 'mole harvest' of any that look weird. I'd say my scars total in the hundreds. Some are just small holes where the dermatologist takes them out and then zaps it with a laser (no stitches), while larger ones require stitches. The most recent was from the top of the back of my right thigh, just below my butt, which resulted in 6 stitches. Due to its location just below my butt, I'm referring to it as my 'butt lift'. Had one removed years ago from my left breast, which left a backwards '?' shaped scar. I refer to that as my 'boob lift'. Closest I'll probably ever get to plastic surgery.

No, not posting pictures.

No, not posting pictures.

Aw, dag nab it anyway! :D

I'm 72, and have only one scar that really can be seen -- had knee surgery in the 80's (broken cartilage removed). Otherwise, just a few minor "scrapes & the like" that after healing, haven't left much to really be seen.

Most of the muscle has grown back, but I still don't have 100% use of it.

But enough use to use Tapatalk!

I've still got 13 years before 40.. But being an extreme sports fan, I've got a good number of scars...

Biggest one is on my back.. I had surgery last May, which left a massive scar (7 herniated disks).. I've got a really good one on my left bicep.. Back in 2005 I had a snow boarding accident.. Put a tree limb through my arm.. Destroyed all the muscle in my bicep, and was in this hospital for about 2 weeks.. Most of the muscle has grown back, but I still don't have 100% use of it.

I have lots more too.. My wife says I'm pretty accident prone!


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Yowzah... those sound pretty major chirs...

In terms of surgery I have a long thin one (probably about 8 inches long) my close to my belt line on the left side where I had hiatal hernia surgery in '88.

Not much of scar to look at as it is very thin but I have a large ridge of subcutaneous scar tissue attached to the muscle that pains me if I do too much physical activity requiring my lower abdominal muscles.

If you are scar free you either are not living live dangerously enough, or are extremely lucky!

I've always chosen to push myself and take risks in the mental realms, rather than the physical. I'm well over 40 and have only one minor scar (it didn't eve require stitches) where I cut myself with an exact-o-knife while trimming the balsa wood I was using to make a model Spad (a WWI biplane).

I've always chosen to push myself and take risks in the mental realms, rather than the physical.

What are the risks of pushing yourself in the mental realms--that you'll go insane?

What are the risks of pushing yourself in the mental realms--that you'll go insane?

Well, sometimes I have to admit I'm wrong, and that hurts; but I always learn something from it... a few decades of that and you find that you've learned a lot. What's more painful (and less educational) are the occasions when I run into problems I can't solve.

Well, sometimes I have to admit I'm wrong, and that hurts; but I always learn something from it... a few decades of that and you find that you've learned a lot. What's more painful (and less educational) are the occasions when I run into problems I can't solve.

We people who move in the physical realm also have to admit we're wrong sometimes.

The worst you really have to worry about is whether you'll lose the hundred quatloos you wagered on the newcomer.

The worst you really have to worry about is whether you'll lose the hundred quatloos you wagered on the newcomer.

Or even worse, that the new gradstudent will not only fail to make my wager pay off, they may foment revolt among the others :eek: (note to self: do not recruit any cocky starfleet captains as gradstudents).

{P.S. Can anyone make me a good "pulsating brain in a vat" gif to use as an avatar?}

If you are scar free you either are not living live dangerously enough, or are extremely lucky!

I've always chosen to push myself and take risks in the mental realms, rather than the physical. I'm well over 40 and have only one minor scar (it didn't eve require stitches) where I cut myself with an exact-o-knife while trimming the balsa wood I was using to make a model Spad (a WWI biplane).

I have to say I don't agree with the first half of dstanic's post... I don't think it is necessary to live one's life dangerously, although there are definitely lessons to be learned from doing so if you survive to make use of those lessons. ;) The second part is exactly correct IMO, you have to be extremely lucky to not have any physical scars...

Also just have to say there all manner of physical injuries that one can receive without leaving any scars... broken bones and torn or ruptured soft tissue being a couple that come to mind having suffered them myself as well.

Fell out of my desk chair at home (don't ask!), and cracked my head on the leg of a portable laptop desk thingy. 6 stitches!
stitches in right eyebrow (age 3)
double inguinal hernia (6 per side) age 2
3 small ones from gall bladder removal
Daughter has scar from spinal surgery that goes from shoulder blade to pelvis.

Fell out of my desk chair at home (don't ask!), and cracked my head on the leg of a portable laptop desk thingy. 6 stitches!


Ohh cmon, inquiring minds want to know. :D

Heads bleed like hell, must have been blood all over the place!

I was deliriously happy when I received a new bike with monkey bar handles (complete with streamers) and a banana seat for my 8th birthday.

It was a bit too big for me, but I would soon grow into it, right? Only a couple of days after receiving it, I was showing it off by riding with the “big” kids in the neighborhood, zipping around the blocks and through the alleyways.

The older kids were challenging me, probably trying to shake me from the group, but I was foolishly stubborn and persisted after them, way beyond my abilities to keep up.

I wiped out in spectacular fashion, skidding around a corner going into a graveled alley. I landed (mostly) on a sharp rock which scooped a nearly teaspoon sized chunk of flesh from below my kneecap. This chunk was hanging by the merest layer of skin possible.

Even though it hurt like hell, I couldn’t cry in front of the big kids. No way. I waved them along, saying that I was OK, despite blood pouring down my leg. I picked myself up first and then my bike, horrified by the discovery that I had damaged my new bike. Now, that made me cry. The rubber handlebar cover on one side was ripped, the streamer torn off and the painted metal chain guard was badly dented and scratched. I was sure I was going to be in deep trouble once my parents saw my new bike.

I poked the chunk of flesh back into the hole it came from and gingerly walked my bike home, stashing it in the shed. Stealing into the house and trying not to drop blood anywhere, I did my best to hide my knee (and my scraped arms). I think an entire roll of bloodied toilet paper was flushed that day, trying to get the bleeding to stop. It was probably a good thing it bled so much because I never properly cleaned the wound. It surely was embedded with bits of the alley. I just couldn’t bring myself to lift the chunk of flesh to clean it out. It healed that way and today I still have the scar in the form of discolored skin, outlining the shape of that chunk of replaced flesh. I have no sensory feeling to this day in that small area of skin.

Ohh cmon, inquiring minds want to know. :D

Heads bleed like hell, must have been blood all over the place!
I say don't ask cuz it is super lame accident!

Was just leaning back the way i always did, but for some reason it kept going! The chair has that function locked down now. Still can't figure out how it tipped and had never done so before.

And Yes , there was lots of blood. As the Doctor pointed out as he was sewing me up, "The scalp has an excellent blood supply!' No ****, Sherlock!

I have lots of minor scars. Two are a little more serious.

I have one on my face that was originally right by my left eye. I got hit by two kids double pumping a swing when I was about 4 or 5. this has sagged now and looks like a wrinkle going half way down my cheek. I used to tell people I got in a knife fight.

The other one is on the pad of my thumb. I got nipped by a table saw. They stiched it up, but it got infected, so I went for plastic surgery. The doctor pared out the bad flesh and put a skin graft from my fore arm. You never think aout this, but the skin on the palms of your hands and fingers does not tan. My skin graft does. So all summer it looks as if I have been putting my thumb in unsavoury places. Just to add insult to injury, every once and awhile, that graft will grow one hair. It soon gets worn right off.