scars

scars Any disruption of the body surface, or of internal organs, will leave a scar, although the most skilful surgical repair can result in a scar which is virtually invisible. Permanent physical evidence of injury on or in the body is the end-product of a complex and highly effective system of repair. However skilful the mending of a tear in a man-made fabric, it does not achieve actual restoration of continuity between the interwoven threads: likewise for the skin and for internal tissues.

When injury — accidental or deliberate — or surgery breaks the skin, the normal wound healing processes result in restoration of continuity of the protective surface layer. Any gap is filled by a covering of epithelium, with an underlying layer of fibrous connective tissue, but this new ‘skin’ does not develop the full character of normal skin — there are no sweat glands, and no hairs. If the edges of a wound have been held close together during the healing process by stitching, or by careful dressing for smaller wounds, the gap — and therefore the final scar — is minimal. At the other extreme, a widely gaping wound will be covered over, but it may end up as an unsightly streak of ‘keloid’ tissue, or ‘welts’, lying proud and purplish above the surface of the adjacent normal skin.

Scarification, artistic marking of the body, practised around the world but especially in Africa, is used to indicate social status, progress through the cycle of life, or familial and dynastic affiliations. It is also employed to enhance bodily beauty and as medical treatment (cuts above the eyes are said to aid sight and those on the temples to relieve headaches). Among the Nubians, for example, one can read a woman's marital and fertility status in her skin. At puberty, Nubian women are marked by a pattern of scars on either side of their abdomens that join at the navel and continue into a point between the breasts. With menarche a second set of cuts are made in parallel rows under the breasts which continue around to the back and cover the entire upper body. After weaning her first child, a woman is marked with raised welts over her back, neck, arms, and buttocks to the knees. In Southern Egypt and Sudan these raised scars are made by a hooked thorn used to lift the skin, which is then cut with a small blade; ashes or indigo are often applied make the scars more prominent.

Scarring is common among both sexes. In men, the scars often indicate social standing or physical ordeals of individual valour. In the early part of the twentieth century, for instance, male students at German universities proudly bore duelling scars.

Sheila Jennet, and Londa Schiebinger

Bibliography

Brain, R. (1979). The decorated body. Harper and Row, New York.

See also body decoration; body mutilation and markings; skin; wound healing.