Scars
1. I have a scar on my left thumb that I received when I was 9. I was helping my grandfather cut down a tree. He had given me a saw to cut limbs with, and I sawed my thumb.
2. A scar on my right hand at the base of my thumb came from a filing cabinet in the County Clerk's Office. I hit my hand while I was doing research. I bled on some documents. Somewhere in the depths of the files that are supposed to be kept forever is a bit of my DNA.
3. I have a long scar on my chest that came from a surgery I had when I was 5. I was born with a huge mole on my chest. Doctors said it was pre-cancerous and needed to be removed. They cut it out and it left a huge scar. When I was in school, I used to tell my gym teachers I'd had heart surgery to get out of gym class. If they wanted to argue with me, I showed them the scar. They couldn't argue with that, and I don't know that any of them ever questioned my parents about it.
4. A scar under my chin is the result of a farming accident when I was 12. My father was pulling a trailer with the tractor; my brother and I were riding in it. I jumped out to open and opened the wooden gate for him. I had done this many times. This time, as my father drove through, he hit the gate, which splintered. A piece of the wood went into my face, cutting my chin open.
5. A scar on my stomach (right side) is from a laparoscopy for an endometrial cyst. It has grown over the years, like a big mole, except it's not. It is allegedly harmless, but it's gone from a dot to the size of a nickel.
6. My belly button is not exactly scarred, but it is now an innie when it used to be an outie. When the doctors performed laparoscopies, they went through the belly button, and it turned inward. There is a scar in its depths. And probably lint.
7. A huge smiley face from hip to hip is actually three cuts - three laparotomies where the doctors went in to remove huge grapefruit-sized cysts from my ovaries while we tried to have a child. This scar is huge and thick, having been cut open so many times, I suppose. The last time they cut it open, I received a full hysterectomy.
8. There's a scar on my left knee where I fell when I was riding a bike one summer at my grandmother's. I think I picked gravel out of that place for a while, but it's just a scar now. I expect most people 50 and over have scars on their knees. I wonder if today's generation will ever know the thrilling fear of falling off a bike onto gravel?
9. I have a scar on the bottom of my left foot that looks like a dot. I ran a toothpick into my foot one snowy January when I was 18. The thing swelled immediately, and I couldn't pull it out. My parents were both at work, and I was writhing in pain. I called the neighbors, and they came over and tried to pull it out, but couldn't, and ultimately, they took me to the ER to have it removed. It left a hole. And a scar.
10. Those are my major scars. I have lots of other small places on my skin, but I don't know how I damaged myself. I bruise and cut easily, so I could have done anything to create a little scar. Sometimes they heal up and eventually the scar goes away, but often they simply scar over.
11. A scar can be a fine line or a pitted hole on the skin, or an abnormal overgrowth of tissue. A minor wound like a cut will usually heal to leave a raised line, which will gradually fade and flatten over time. This process can take up to 2 years. The scar will not disappear completely, and there will be left a visible mark or line.
12. Fine-line scars are common following a wound or after surgery. They are not usually painful, but they may be itchy for a few months.
13. There are several types of scars. Keloid scars are an overgrowth of tissue that happens when too much collagen is produced at the site of a wound. (That would be #5, I think.) The scar keeps growing, even after the wound has healed. Keloid scars are raised above the skin and can be pink, red, the same color or darker than surrounding skin. They're often itchy or painful and can restrict movement if they're tight and near a joint. Hypertrophic scars are the result of excess collagen being produced at the site of a wound. Unlike keloid scars, hypertrophic scars do not extend beyond the boundary of the original wound. They may continue to thicken for up to 6 months before gradually improving over a few years. Pitted or sunken scars are caused by skin conditions, such as acne and chickenpox. They can have a sunken or pitted appearance. Pitted scars, also known as atrophic or "icepick" scars, can also develop as a result of an injury that causes a loss of underlying fat. Scar contractures are often caused by burns. They happen when the skin "shrinks", leading to tightness and a restriction in movement.
And of course, we all have those hidden scars, the ones deep inside of us, that touch our heart and soul. Who alive hasn't been scarred? I dare say nobody.
You have so many scars that tell so many stories. Some scars disappear. I had scars in rings around each ankle from when I was burned as a baby by boiling water. It seeps around my socks. The scars, which were noticeable, faded over time. I had one laparoscopic surgery for a benign cyst the size of a grapefruit on my liver. I have more cysts on liver, kidney and pancreas but nothing that big.
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