Ice Skating Trip Fall Leads to Surgery

If you look at Brenda's left hand, you will clearly see a white, jagged line running almost the whole length of her wrist. This is the scar, she says, that she got from a serious fall she suffered when her class took an ice-skating trip to commemorate the end of their middle school journey over ten years ago.

(Above: Brenda's scar, the result of an ice skating trip where she took a fall. The fall eventually led to surgery to repair her damaged thumb.)

For Brenda, this ice-skating event proved to be a little bit more than painful. Her first time skating brought the expected beginner's falls; but because one particular slip was so severe, she ended up having to wear a cast to fix what she later learned was a broken wrist.

However, sometime along her sophomore year of high school, she realized she had a "weird" thumb.

"It would just lay limp," she says, pulling up her hand to demonstrate. "I couldn't move it...it turns out I had broken a tendon"

Unless she physically moved her thumb around, she explained, she had lost all ability to move the top portion of her thumb like normal.

Eventually, Brenda had no choice but to undergo surgery to repair the broken tendon. But the scar on her wrist is a reminder of that tumble she took that day.

It appears that her injury is the situation explained in medscape.com

Hole in one's....forehead?

(Above: Tony's scar above his eye is evidence of an unfortunate encounter with a swinging golf club. From far away, it's almost unnoticable)

Tony never imagined a playful day of golf out in the sun with his neighbor would lead to an accident that would send him to the emergency room.

In fact, he came very close to losing one eye when his then-neighbor, Aaron, wacked him with a golf club in an accidental, but nevertheless, extremely powerful swing.

"It's like something you would see on failblog", he says. "I don't even know why I did that, just stand behind him [while he swung], but I did".

If you look closely at his forehead, you might just miss it. In fact, even if you squint your eyes and inspect the area carefully, chances are you won't notice the scar. Still, the memory of the whole accident is enough to bring both a mix of laughter and careful moments of reflection for Tony, realizing just how lucky he really was.

(A close-up shows Tony's scar, a thin line running close to his left eyebrow. The blow came dangerously close to his eye)

In terms of the actual, painful blow to the forehead he received, Tony has a dim memory of the pain's intensity:
"I didn't really feel anything," he says. "I just remember feeling a dull, achy pain and seeing all this blood."

He adds that perhaps the fact that the doctor used anesthesia for the stitches might contribute to the apparent painless experience.

And as for his neighbor. What did he do?

"Nothing," he says "Aaron's grandma only said 'oh are you ok', and that was it...and that '[the cut] was not that bad'."

And even though he got stitches, he adds, "we're still friends today."

Teresa

(Teresa points to her scar, the aftermath of an unfortunate accident she had as a child.) 

Located on her right leg, a couple of inches below the knee, a deep indentation marks the spot where Teresa suffered a painful incident as a child. Involving a broken glass coke bottle and a jagged piece that embedded deep within her skin, this scar is the aftermath:

(A small closeup of the scar. Note how it stands out on her skin-a telltale characteristic of this particular "Ice Pick" healed scar tissue)

Growing up in Michoacan, Mexico, Teresa explains that from a small age she had always been expected to help out. This entailed helping out her grandmother, who owned a small paleteria (ice cream store).

In this small store, she says,  one particular room was used as storage. It was in this room that she found herself one day accidentally dropping (and breaking) a glass coke bottle.


Naturally, she says, glass pieces flew everywhere. Seeing the commotion, her aunt asked Teresa to pick up all the pieces. In her attempt to clean up everything as fast as possible, a big jagged piece dug itself deep in her flesh.


WebMd explains that, "Some scars can have a sunken or pitted appearance. This kind of scarring occurs when underlying structures supporting the skin (for example, fat or muscle) are lost."

When asked what she did to treat the wound, Teresa explained: "I remember my mom would tell me to pee in a cup and pour that over the wound, so it won't get infected. Believe it or not, it worked."

Introduction: a little bit about this blog

For your listening pleasure...(and to set the mood for this blog)"Scar Tissue" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

(click here for the song lyrics)


A little bit about this blog...

As the name denotes, (and in case you haven't read the sidebar) the purpose of this blog will be to talk about scars. Yes, that's right...you know, the scar tissue left behind on our bodies, the remnants of some traumatic experience or accident we went through at some point in our lives. Perhaps this took place back when we were younger, or maybe even in recent times. And while for the most part, this suggests the individuals in question experienced a rather painful ordeal that left them with scars in the first place, by sharing their experience, this may very well change one's perspective on scars...and learn more about the person who has them.

Without a doubt, there are tons of beauty products, treatments, and remedies out there that claim to be the ultimate cure for removing "unwanted", "unsightly" deformities on our skin. With such a perspective, it's safe to assume we live in a culture that stresses the importance-and highly esteems-perfection, however unaitainable that may really be.

(ABOVE: The famous Kardashian sisters in an ad for  their own brand of skin solution, promising "perfect skin" for their consumers. Photo Courtesy of igossip.com)

But like the saying goes, "a real person isn't perfect, and a perfect person isn't real". Our scars, our battle wounds, are those we should be proud of!