Cutting

What is cutting?

Cutting is cutting patterns into the skin with a sterile blade, where branding makes that same scar with heat. It is a form of scarification: the cut is the means, the scar that stays behind is the goal. It falls under bloodplay, and it is irreversible.

How a cut is made

The act itself is small, and that is exactly what misleads people. A blade goes shallowly through the top layers of skin, in a line or a simple pattern, and less blood comes free than most people expect.

What happens after that can no longer be steered. The encyclopedia entry on scarification states that it is not a precise practice: skin type, cutting depth, and the way the wound is cared for during healing make the outcome unpredictable compared to other forms of body modification. Scars also spread during healing, which is why finished designs are usually simple and details get lost.

The same source also describes how people make the scar stand out more: rubbing tattoo ink into the fresh cut, or using irritants to encourage keloid formation. At that point a session turns into body modification.

Where on the body, and why that matters

With cutting, the spot is not an aesthetic choice but a medical one. Gauglitz and colleagues lay out in Molecular Medicine which spots are prone to a thick scar.

Hypertrophic scars, the raised type that stays within the wound edges, show up mostly on the shoulders, neck, breastbone, knees, and ankles. Keloid, which instead grows out beyond the original wound edges, sits mostly on the front of the chest, shoulders, earlobes, upper arms, and cheeks. Eyelids, palms, soles, and genitals are less prone to it.

Two factors from that same review decide the rest. Wounds under tension from movement or from where they sit on the body carry more risk, and healing that takes longer than ten to fourteen days sharply raises the chance of a hypertrophic scar. Skin color plays a part too: on dark skin the reported keloid incidence in African populations lies between 6 and 16 percent.

The timeline differs too. A hypertrophic scar forms within four to eight weeks, keeps growing for about six months, and then recedes over years. Keloid can appear up to years later and does not go away on its own.

What has to happen afterward

Once the blade is gone, there is no scene anymore but a wound, and then ordinary GP rules apply.

Thuisarts.nl advises rinsing a wound clean with lukewarm water from the tap and using only water: no soap and nothing else. Press the wound closed until it stops bleeding. Call the GP the same day if there is yellow-white fluid from the wound, if the wound edges get thicker, warmer, redder, or darker, if the pain increases, if there is a fever of 38 degrees or higher, or if you feel ill.

There are also moments to call right away: bleeding that does not stop, wound edges that will not meet, severe pain, or loss of feeling or function. Stitching is done preferably within twelve hours and only rarely still within twenty-four, so putting the doubt off until tomorrow is not an option.

Misconceptions about cutting

“A shallow cut leaves no scar.” With cutting, the scar is the goal, and whether it turns out thick or thin is decided by your skin, not your intention. The same cut gives a different outcome on a shoulder than on a forearm.

“You draw the pattern and that is what you get.” Scars spread during healing, which makes the end result simpler than the drawing.

“It is less risky than needles.” The hygiene requirements are the same. The risk story lives with bloodplay. With scarification, transmission of HIV and hepatitis C has been described through shared tools.

What I make of it myself

Cutting is not something I do. Lasting physical damage is on my no-go list, and a scar is exactly that. That is not a judgment on anyone who does want it, it is just not for me.

In conversations I see the same thing as with branding: people ask about it at the moment the feeling is at its peak. That is understandable, and it is the wrong moment. If you still want it in three months, go to someone who does this professionally.

Almost everyone who asks about this is after the feeling of something irreversible. That feeling can also be reached with things that do not carry over into the next relationship.

What you can do yourself

• Take months over it. A decision that is the same after three months is a different decision.
• Avoid the shoulders, breastbone, and upper arms if you want to prevent a thick scar. Those are the spots that stand out in the literature.
• Use single-use sterile equipment, and never share tools.
• Rinse with lukewarm tap water, without soap or disinfectant.
• Call right away for bleeding that will not stop or wound edges that will not close. Stitching is best done within twelve hours.
• In the days after, watch for pus, increasing pain, warmth, redness, or a fever of 38 degrees or higher.

Sources

• Ik heb een wond. Thuisarts.nl (Nederlands Huisartsen Genootschap, Federatie Medisch Specialisten en Patiëntenfederatie Nederland). Backs up the advice to press closed until the bleeding stops and to rinse with lukewarm tap water without soap, the preferably-twelve-hour window for stitching, the reasons to call right away, and the signs of infection to watch for.
• Hypertrophic Scarring and Keloids: Pathomechanisms and Current and Emerging Treatment Strategies. Gauglitz, Korting, Pavicic, Ruzicka & Jeschke, Molecular Medicine 17(1–2), 113–125, 2011. Backs up the distinction between hypertrophic scar and keloid, the prone body parts, the keloid incidence of 6 to 16 percent in African populations, and the finding that healing which takes longer than ten to fourteen days strongly raises the chance of a hypertrophic scar.
• Scarification. Wikipedia. Backs up the healing time of roughly six to twelve months, the spreading of scars that makes details disappear, the unpredictability from skin type and cutting depth, the rubbing-in of ink to make the scar more visible, and the infection risks with described transmission of HIV and hepatitis C through shared tools.

Related terms

• Bloodplay. Where the whole risk story lives: working sterile, gloves, and the conversation about STI status.
• Branding and brandmerken. The same lasting mark, but with heat instead of a blade.
• Blood cupping and IV needles. The forms of bloodplay where nothing lasting is intended.
• Edgeplay. The category cutting falls under, with the framework that comes with it.
• Knifeplay. The same tool without the scar: cold, pressure, and threat, with the skin left intact.
• Scarification. The overarching term, with the reason the wound in this form of play is deliberately kept open.