Ever wondering what it’s like getting scarification? Ever wondered how they heal? Well here’s a fairly detailed account of how mine was, from design stages, to the cutting itself, through several months of healing. Enjoy!
Performed by Patric Aultice in Iconic Art, Dublin.
DAY ZERO
As you can see, the design progressed a lot from my initial sketches. Even on the day, last-minute changes were being made to suit the piece, prioritising how the piece would heal. When I first spoke to Patric about the piece, I had instantly visualised something along the lines of a mandala. My initial design sought to bring in mild influences while keeping the piece true to my own style, and styles I enjoy. Repeated fiddling drove me back to the shape of a more traditional mandala, although the significance of the piece relates more to the layout of the segments and their contents.
Initially, the cutting was quite painful, but once we’d cut enough to begin using the numbing agent, the process got a whole lot easier. You can see the picture below of me smiling while being cut, feeling no pain. I reckon about 40% of the pain was blocked by the numbing, although some parts were still intensely painful. As you may have noticed, a small bit of the piece is unfinished, which I’ll be getting filled in in a couple of weeks.
The piece took about five hours, including breaks. The piece has been made with varying reactions from friends and family, but most seem to like it, even stating it swayed their opinion on scarification.
DAY ONE – DAY THREE
After the first day, it was mostly pink, with red in a few spots. As of day three, it’s mostly orange, as it’s starting to scab.
Some things involving movement of that area are quite awkward, like showering, changing clothes, lying on my left side, and general movement of my left arm. Nothing too bad though, and it’s getting steadily better.
DAY FIVE
Scar is a little more red than usual as took this pic right after a shower. Already, the inconveniences it’s been causing are reduced. Almost no difficulty sleeping or showering, things which were previously a nightmare. I’ve noticed that certain types of clothing irritate it more, I think due to different qualities of materials.
DAY NINE
Significant progress. Most of the scabs have come off, and there is now no pain. Even if I stretch my arm purposely to irritate it, I just feel a slight tightness. I’ve noticed that the piece stretches out quite a bit as my arm moves though, where an extra inch or two of length can be created, which distorts the design. Not a problem so to speak, just something that I should be aware of. Also, scarring on the left side of the piece (my left) where there is most movement is going to be heavier than the right side. Already, one side is fading where the other is still quite red.
Soon we’ll be finishing the blank segments with biopsy punches, and once it’s healed enough that there is no discomfort, I’ll be getting it touched up. Making the points a bit more pointy, regulating scarring, adding in one or two small additional lines, that kinda thing.
DAY TWELVE
Scabbing is completely gone. No pain, even if I try to irritate it. Piece seems to have completely finished the awkward stages of healing, and now it just needs to change colour! I’m taking a trip to Cork next week, but will probably get the rest of the design finished around the 10th of June.
DAY TWENTY
No picture this time, as it looks pretty much the same as always. However, there are yet more changes! It’s now starting to develop quite a texture, you can really feel the shape of the design when you run your fingers over it. The left is still more pronounced, but it’s too late to really do anything about that now. When I get the design finished, I think I’ll make the dots of the left side slightly smaller, in anticipation of them ending up bigger. I can also feel a tightness when I stretch my chest that I hadn’t felt in about a week which I imagine is a result of the new thickness of the scarring.
DAY FORTY-SEVEN
Fresh update! Had the piece for just over a month, and you can see that the shape doesn’t look that different. However, the texture has undergone drastic changes. Over the last two weeks, it’s steadily become more pronounced, and you can easily feel it through a shirt. There was some mild aching in the morning at times, as it had been stretched while I slept. Scarring is relatively consistent, and the inconsistencies would be very hard to spot if it wasn’t for the symmetrical nature of the piece.
Friday, I plan to go in to get the empty segments filled and get some touching up on the bits that scarred more lightly. Plan is to use biopsy punches to create a pattern of dots in the two blank segments, using slightly smaller sizes for the side that stretches and will scar more thickly. As regards the touching up, the plan is to do as little as possible, as we can always thicken the scars later if we need to.
DAY SIXTY
Finally got around to getting more work on my scar!
The dots are the freshest, and they were flesh-removals done with dermal punches. They hurt, but they were pretty quick. The outline of the scar was also touched up lightly in places, with hopes of stimulating more keloiding.
This session took about half an hour to do, and the plan is to see how the touching up reacts with the piece, then either do more of the same or change tactics if it doesn’t produce the desired effect.
DAY ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY SIX
I’ve had the piece for almost six months now. The bottom-left corner is lighter than the others, but the rest of the piece is quite consistent. The texture is quite strong, and feels great. There hasn’t been any pain since about a week after the touch-up, so it’s been pain-free for months. The piece healed totally differently than I had pictured in my mind, but I’m completely happy with it! It’s also been met with almost complete positive reactions from people who’ve seen it, many of whom were previously unfamiliar with scarification. 10/10 would recommend.