# Do you have a piece of pencil lead embedded in your skin somewhere? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 21, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921 "2010-01-21T23:54:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/81 "2010-01-27T15:39:27Z")
> [@Random\_Design](#): > > …I was pulling, he was pulling, I was pulling, he let go, my hand and pencil flew into my face. Ayie, that could have been much worse, huh? Your story reminds me of when one of my teachers told us that her daughter got a paper cut on her cornea during a paper fight with her sister. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@Mike\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Fun)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/82 "2010-01-27T17:35:26Z")
Top of left wrist, still barely visible. Side of foot, not visible, forgot which foot. Both were due to middle school misadventure, not self-inflicted. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/83 "2010-01-27T17:41:38Z")
> [@Kal](#): > > Left thigh. Done by another kid when I was something like 8 or 9. > > Could see it well into my teens. Left thigh also. I was in 7th grade when another girl bumped into me at school, and I hit a metal pole. My book bag had a hole at the bottom with a pencil sticking out, and I “found” the pencil because my bag landed between the pole and my leg. I had a small black/grayish mark on my thigh for many years. I just looked at my leg and, yep, it’s gone. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/84 "2010-01-27T18:02:48Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Holy cow, I didn’t realize there were so many of us! Nor did I. I have one inside my right thigh, and this thread inspired me to drop trou and check. Still visible. I accidentally stabbed myself underlining something on a clipboard resting on my leg. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/85 "2010-01-27T19:12:31Z")
Middle of my left knee. 3rd grade. I was at a friend’s house playing on his Atari 2600, on my knees on the carpet, and scooted forward into a sharp pencil. Dot is still there, approaching 30 years later. ---
**Author:** ![TheFaerie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TheFaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheFaerie)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/86 "2010-01-27T23:24:43Z")
Inside edge of my right heel. Stepped on a pencil when I was 12-ish? ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/87 "2010-01-27T23:36:51Z")
As I say to my sister when she complains about a blemish that _might_ be pencil lead that I jammed in there as a kid, it’s graphite, it’s inert, you’ll live. If the above is incorrect chemically in any way, it still stands as my “go away” line to her. Besides which, I like to bring out the “you ripped off my mole, I could get cancer!” line from time to time 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/88 "2010-01-28T08:20:29Z")
Yea, someone stabbed a pencil above my right knee and it’s been stuck there since 5th grade. A few years later, I remember stabbing my own left knee and trying to get lead stuck there, for the sake of symmetry or something. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/89 "2010-01-29T02:37:35Z")
> [@Mudshark](#): > > …A few years later, I remember stabbing my own left knee and trying to get lead stuck there, for the sake of symmetry or something. The poll has shown that _I’m_ not insane, but I think _you_ might be. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Waxwinged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c2a13f/32.png) [@Waxwinged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waxwinged)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/90 "2010-01-29T20:56:20Z")
Used to have one in the meaty part of the upper arm; got it cut out a while back. Now have a pea-sized scar there. (Got stabbed by my mom in a grocery store. After she got annoyed at me for some reason. Thankfully, I haven’t lived in -that- crazy household for some time now.) ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/91 "2010-01-29T22:14:47Z")
Wow, after reading this thread, I now have some confirmation (FWIW) that the black dot just above and to the left of my left knee IS, in fact,(ok, well, PROBABALY is) the remains of a pencil stabbing! Yes, it is still there, I just checked. 😛 I honestly don’t recall now (at 44) if I did it to myself (most likely, knowing me:rolleyes:) or if someone else did, but I have had it since I was in elem. school and remember feeling sure it had to be from that incident! (I have many flat moles/beauty marks on my body, but all are brown, not black, and this one is UNDER the skin…not on the surface! :dubious:) But no adults ever took me seriously, they poo-pooed my claims that it was a mark from a pencil. Interesting. And I thought I got my first tattoo at 40. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/92 "2010-01-30T00:23:38Z")
Can’t see it anymore, but I used to have one in my right forearm. I had a pencil in my pocket and jabbed it into my arm when I went to hike myself up to sit on a counter top. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/93 "2010-02-08T08:19:59Z")
> [@Maiira](#): > > You know, I don’t even remember where mine is, much less the circumstances of the actual stabbing event. It was between two of my fingers, and it was pretty clearly visible for some time afterward, but I just looked on both hands and couldn’t find anything. Hate to zombie this thread, but I just came in to say that I finally found my embedded lead. When I was looking the last time it was in poor light and I was looking in the wrong place. It’s in the crease of the second knuckle on the middle finger (palm side) of my left hand. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/94 "2010-02-08T15:28:24Z")
I’ve got a bit of graphite stuck in my right thigh, a few inches up from the side of the knee crease. It’s not anywhere near as visible as it used to be, but it’s still there. Got it sometime during elementary school-- the pencil had managed to bore a hole through my old backpack and stab me while I was either taking it off or putting it on. It’s been long enough that I can’t remember exactly what happened, but I was on the playground when it happened. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/95 "2010-02-08T15:41:05Z")
I was going to pick “no, are you crazy?” but then something nagged at me and I checked my hands. There’s a dark-bluish dot in the webbing between my thumb and forefinger that I recall as having been there forever. No, I can’t remember any definite incidents that might have caused it. I remember a number of scars from falls and burns, but not the small “tattoo.” ---
**Author:** ![Simmerdown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simmerdown/32/14859_2.png) [@Simmerdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simmerdown)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/96 "2010-02-08T21:24:43Z")
Inside ring finger of right hand, to the lower right of the pad, just before the joint. 6th grade goofing around during recess, swatting at a guy with a sharp pencil in his breast pocket. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/97 "2010-02-08T22:38:00Z")
Two in the center of my right palm. Separate incidents. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/98 "2010-02-08T23:05:49Z")
On the underside of my forearm. It’s pretty deep so you can’t see it anymore. You can feel it though. It is about the side of a grain of rice. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/99 "2010-02-09T07:11:36Z")
I’m sure everybody knows the phrase “…like the back of my hand”. I hadn’t noticed it until the first time I saw this thread, but I have recently discovered a small mole on the back of my left hand that wasn’t previously there. When I was young, approx. 5 or 6 (I guess), I had a pencil in my left hand and was laid out on my tummy in front of the TV, way too close for safety, according to mom. I saw something or other that made me point at the TV with the pencil. I am not left handed. As I pointed, the pencil hit the glass screen and I managed to stab myself in the left palm with the pencil and the lead broke off. But hey, no blood no foul, right? I didn’t tell anybody. I didn’t want to get into trouble. Hell, I \*almost \*broke the TV, right? For years, I noticed that I had a small point of graphite in my left palm. Sometimes I would use it as a joke to introduce myself. But it was no big deal. If my logic is right, the graphite is burrowing its way through my hand. Maybe when it comes out the other side I can examine it like an ice core sample or something. ---
**Author:** ![Remarkable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@Remarkable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Remarkable)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921/100 "2010-02-09T07:30:44Z")
Left palm near the thumb base… direct result of clumsiness. Can’t see the lead anymore but if I look hard enough there’s still a small scar … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-a-piece-of-pencil-lead-embedded-in-your-skin-somewhere/525921.md?page=6)