Do you find scars (physical ones) disgusting or interesting?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Maybe you pay no mind to them at all, I’m just curious.

Owing to a reckless youth of contact sports and motorcycle riding, I have a number of them. I live in a warm climate and spend most of my time in bermuda shorts and short sleeves, which expose some rather nasty scars on my right forearm, left knee and right shin. When I have stubble, a two inch scar on my chin stands out from lack of hair. On the left side of my ribcage, there is a round, jagged scar (about the size of a half-dollar) where a tube was inserted to inflate a collapsed lung.

I realize my concerns are vein and self-indulgent, but I plan to spend another 60 years inside this body. I grow tired of wondering if I should make an effort to cover the scars up or if I should just try to forget about them. In a weird way, they have often served as an ice-breaker for meeting girls. Many have approached me to ask “How did that happen?” or to ask if they can touch the scar tissue :confused: .

Anyway, this is not a major issue in my life (honestly), but it is difficult to ask someone about this face to face.

2

I find them interesting - a physical map of your life, so to speak.

My husband has one on his calf from the tailpipe of his motorcycle - seems he touches it to the hot pipe every few years while cleaning it or moving it in the garage!

There was a scene in one of the Lethal Weapon movies where Mel Gibson & Rene Russo were comparing scars - very hot!

3

Well, partly it depends.

If there’s someone with massive burn scars or large areas of skin graft… I’m not sure I’d call it “disgusting”, but disturbing comes to mind, mostly because it’s an indication the person suffered some horrific and terribly painful accident. The same for missing fingers, toes, feet, hands, arms, legs… it isn’t so much the scar as the thought of the pain and suffering someone must have gone through to get it. Wouldn’t stop me from starting a conversation or anything like that, but yeah, I’d be curious. And I hope this makes sense - I wouldn’t think any less of the person, but I’d prefer it if things had been such that they wouldn’t have had to go through whatever it was.

Some surgical scars are interesting because my mind tries to figure out what they were for. There’s that distinctive “I’ve had heart surgery” scar down the breastbone, for instance. The “I’ve had a tracheostomy” scar in the hollow of the throat between the ends of the collar bones. And, yes, the quasi-circular “I’ve had a chest tube at some time in the past” scar. But that’s not to say I find them attractive.

And some scars - the little ones, the fine-line ones - just aren’t particularly noticable. Yeah, I see 'em, but don’t notice them unless they’re on the face or have some other unusual chracteristic (extreme length, perhaps, or completely encircle the neck or something).

Even scars on the face aren’t usually upsetting if they’re small and not humped-up keloids. I notice them, but’s like noticely any other facial feature - “Let’s see, ** Murcielago** has brown hair, brown eyes, slightly crooked nose, small scar on chin without beard stubble, big ears, skinny eyebrows, and crow’s feet”. Just sort of gets lost among the rest.

I’d say on a casual level, it probably doesn’t matter. In a formal setting long pants and sleeves would keep them from being distracting.

Due to a lot of surgery in younger years my husband has quite a collection of scars - I see 'em, but there was never any particular emotional impact (other than “oh, that’s too bad you had to go through all that surgery and I’m glad that part of your life is over”) and now they’re just part of the scenery. His one foot looks kinda gross, but that’s because it’s not a normal shape, not so much from the scars from surgery required to repair it to the extent it’s been “fixed”. If it was a more normal shape it’d be less disturbing even if there were more scars on it.

Also, he keeps it hidden all the time. He’s clearly uncomfortable with it. If your scars don’t bother you and you act like you’re comfortable with your body, others will likely be comfortable, too. Sometimes, when you try to hide something you wind up drawing more attention to it.

4

I very much doubt this comment is on the same wave-length, but…

I happened to notice an…abnormality? above Elijah Wood’s left eye (above the lid, under the brow, outer corner–but I didn’t look too closely ^^;:wink: that may or may not be a scar (I don’t know because, well, he’s not exactly at my disposal to inquire). Personally, I find it absolutely the most endearing thing I’ve ever seen in all my years–and that’s ranking above Elijah’s eyelashes! Scars like that can be cute, I think, and nothing can ever make a person ugly!

~Ferry

5

Actor Joaquin Phoenix has a scar on his face that is interesting and tolerable.

Eugene Simonet, a scarred social studies teacher, played by Kevin Spacey, in the movie, Pay It Forward, has more alarming scars on his face due to burns. But after a while, I guess one gets used to seeing them.

6

Just to clarify my situation, I am not disfigured in the least. My scars are surgical, straight lines with some faint suture marks on the edges. My chin scar 'taint but a scratch.

My curiousity is about what may go through your mind when you first see the long scars on my arm and legs and what assumptions you may make. For example, the scar on my right forearm runs from just below my wrist for about ten inches toward my elbow. This happened when I went over the handlebars of my motorcycle, but some people assume it was a particularly vicious suicide attempt.

I really don’t mean this to be a dead serious discussion, just wondering about first impressions.

7

I have scars, but persons seldom notice/make comments about them. I’ve found that if I act as if there’s nothing strange, no one says a thing. Of course, that may also be because some of the scars look from questionable origin and they may not want to ask about them.

I don’t notice most scars unless they are big and obvious, and then, like Broomstick says, if it looks from something painful, I think “Ouch!”.

8

Behind every scar, is a story.

Scars are interesting. The story how it came about… and just seeing how the body heals itself.

Add character.

9

What about scars without stories? I’ve got at least 15 along my back that are a result of skin streching (oddly enough known as stretch marks ;)). I’ve got no story but going into a long talk about how they form and what they’re made of. I’m still trying to perfect a story on how I got into a fight with a cougar just for effect however.

10

Scars are cool.

Cool ladies love cool scars.

Ladies, I have some cool scars you can look at.

11

Scars are interesting. Make it look like you’ve been out living, instead of staying home on the couch (see that there? That’s where they had to surgically remove the remote control from my hand after a Nick at Night marathon!). I have a 1" scar on my chin from doing a swan dive off a horse into gravel, and I’ve never given a second thought to hiding it.

12

I find them interesting. My SO has quite a few scars, many of them collected from a single road bike accident, and a couple from suguries, and at least one from our PsychoKitty. I kind of like his scars, especially the little one on his chin which shows up through his beard! The only one I don’t like is the big ugly brown-coloured one on his ankle where it essentially got sawed open by the [I don’t know the english word - derailleur] of his bike (the spiky thing that the chain goes onto at the back, where the gears are). It’s icky and it bothers me to look at it, mainly because the colour is just so WRONG, IMO.

13

Whenever I have been in love with someone, I have loved every part of that person’s body. Scars take on an enchanting and even erotic appearance when in love, as they are a map of the life of the loved one. As such they should be kissed, carressed and honoured.
Of course, when out of love and disillusioned, the ex loved one cannot even breathe without causing great irrritation!

14

I may have a mild fetish going here, but I find scars attractive.

Every scar DOES have a story–but what good are stories if you can’t elaborate just a tad?

When I was an infant, I had a surgical operation to correct an internal problem. The teeny weeny little stitches they used to close me left a line of teeny weeny little dimples on my abdomen. These got bigger as I got bigger.

Now when, at poolside, someone asks me about the line of dimpled scars, I say, “When I was a kid, I was playing in my grandfather’s barn, and I jumped out of the hayloft into a pile of hay. But I didn’t know that there was a pitchfork in that pile, with its tines pointing straight at me–”

I never get farther than this part because the listener usually screams here.

15

I think they add character. True character, not Calvin’s Dad “character”.

A friend of mine has a small, jagged scar right over the bridge of his nose from a childhood accident. I can’t even imagine him without it. A well-placed scar on a man’s face can really get my gears turning.

Yep, I am a cool lady and I love cool scars. I am also the president of the newly formed Cool Scar-Lovin’ Ladies (and Gents) Federation.

16

OK, here is the story of the scar I am most self-conscious about. This is all true (to the best of my recollection), I would only lie to conceal my own stupidity.

This is the model of bike I decided to take trail riding. My friends all had 175cc off-road bikes, but I thought I could show them up by using a street bike on the dirt (pride always comes before the fall). I smashed the windshield against a tree within the first 10 minutes, leaving some razor-sharp edges in front of me for the rest of the day. Bear in mind that I was only wearing a T-shirt and shorts :smack: . I saw what looked like a good ramp to make a jump, unfortunately I did not see the weed-covered trough in front of it. My bike went nose down into the trough and I flew over the handlebars.

The next few minutes are rather sketchy. I remember going back to pick up my bike and finding the front wheel bent beyond repair and pinned against the frame. My right hand felt wet and slippery, I looked down to see that it was covered in blood. If you can picture an overly ripe tomato with the skin split by a razor blade, you will understand what I saw when I looked at my right forearm. I could see the tendons working as I checked to see if I still had all my fingers.

There was a lot of screaming on the way to the emergency room, I recall “Put pressure on it!” being shouted over and over. Somehow I got away with a long scar but no loss of dexterity in my right hand.

I need to create a version of this story where I don’t look like such an idiot :wink: .

P.S. Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it.

17

My man has several scars, as a result from the surgery he had years ago after being mowed down by a hit-and-run driver. One over his hipbone, another round his elbow, and a big “zipper” which runs from his sternum to his groin. They’re quite noticeable - pure white and slightly raised - and when we first got it together he was extremely self conscious about them.

We’ve talked about the accident, which happened long before I even knew him, and the details are pretty horrifying (he flatlined twice while on the operating table). The scars themselves, however, have never bothered me in the slightest, and I wasn’t shocked when I first saw them. They’re part of who he is, and I’ve never known him any other way. He was so thrilled when he realised that the scars didn’t matter to me, started grinning and gave me a big hug :).

18

I have a large and fairly unattractive scar on my arm, the result of a childhood disagreement with a wringer washer.

Remember wringer washers? I’ll bet I’m one of the youngest people with a wringer scar. No one even knows what they are anymore. When my students ask how I did it, it takes me ten minutes to explain. I’m going to start just saying I got it rescuing a baby from a burning building.

Anyway, it’s a big, ugly scar, and my experience is this: when I was a kid, people asked me about it all the time. Now, almost no one asks me. I think they’re trying to ignore it.

I’ve thought about getting plastic surgery to correct it, but the truth is I don’t want to. It’s a part of my history, a monument that I’ve experienced pain at least once, and its ugliness has its own strange appeal to me.

So I’m keeping it.

19

Agree with everyone who has said that scars are part of who they are. Do they make people more attractive? Not really (IMHO), but certainly more interesting.

The hubster has several scars (surgery, accidents, knife whoopses, stilletto to the head - that type of thing). Each one has an interesting tale. They are part of him, so in an odd way, I suppose that makes them sexy as he most certainly is.

I have several, the majority due to surgery (8" on right hand, 2 small > shaped scars about 3" in total length on right, a 2" scar on right forearm near elbow from surgery, 3" scar (only a few weeks old) on left hand, appendectomy scar, and scar over each hip where bone marrow was removed from each hip) and a few minor ones due to accidents.

Though I can be a bit self-conscious at times about all the scars on my hands, I tend to forget about them until someone asks about them. No need to make up weird stories as to how they got their as the stories are weird anyway - mind nothing as cool as falling on a pitchfork, but…

20

Murcielago

nope, I wouldn’t make assumptions about someone with a scar/scars.

It wouldn’t freak me out to know that they had them, but like others have already said, I’d be more upset with the story behind the scars - that someone had to go through pain and suffering resulting in them. On the other hand, it’s just a map of life and testimony to people being able to get through whatever trauma or illness they had.

Interestingly enough, your thread reminded me of a news story over at ananova:

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_737499.html?menu=news.quirkies.eccentrics