'Scarification' the new tattoo

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'Scarification' the new tattoo
November 17, 2010
By KRISTY BROWNLEE
The Toronto Sun

Most people spend their whole lives trying to avoid unsightly scars.

But there is a growing number of scar seekers, especially young women, going out of their ways to acquire dainty flesh carvings with a scalpel.

The painful procedure is called scarification -- an extreme form of body modification -- and the brave are increasingly choosing skin incisions over the traditional tattoo.

Some like the unique look of a scar, while others strive to transform negative marks, from surgery to self-cutting, into positive works of art.

Aimee Caul, a 23-year-old Guelph, Ont. student, went under the knife to yield a beautiful flowing design permanently etched on her ribcage.

As a teen, Caul suffered from depression and turned to cutting herself as a method to cope. At 17, she sliced the word ‘persevere’ into her left thigh with a blade.

Caul said she later turned to scarification to “reclaim” her body after five years of cut-free living.

“It was a moment of feeling really personally strong and realizing those scars aren’t going away. I wanted something that was beautiful, that I could always look at and know it was my body and my life,” she said.

Her Facebook profile picture is an image of her blood-red scar, on the side of her hip up to her bust, a testament to her difficult journey of recovery.

Cutting artist Keith Kennedy, who offers the service at his Calgary shop Tribal Expression, said about 20% of scar-seeking clients have previous disfigurement from surgery, car crashes or self-mutilation.

And unlike tattooing, a practice undertaken mostly by men, nearly three-quarters of scarifying clients are women, he said.

Kennedy guesses that this because the designs, carved with a sterile scalpel, tend to heal a faint white shade that is less bold than an inked tattoo.

He noted that some females have even come to him with scars from C-sections and appendectomies, and want to meld their imperfections with a delicate design.

“It changes their outlook for how they feel about themselves,” he said of the $190-an-hour procedure.

Part of the significance of scarification, compared to the tattoo that can be removed (albeit with a procedure), is it’s forever.

“There is nothing more permanent than a scar. Once it’s on there, there is no removing it,” said Kennedy.

Tami Martin, a photography student from Elmira, Ont., 15 kilometres north of Waterloo, was sentenced to a lifetime of hiding in sweaters to conceal at least 60 scars -- there are so many it’s impossible to count -- on her right forearm from self-cutting.

Since age 11, Martin said she has cut herself at least 100 times on her arm, stomach and legs.

Now she had flowers, vines and leaves set into her arm overtop of the slash marks.

“It’s a whole lot prettier than what’s behind it. I wanted a pretty scar,” said Martin.

She has refrained from slicing herself for over a year.

“I talked with my hands a lot and I was always worried. It’s nice not having to hide it anymore,” she said.

Cambridge, Ontario scarification artist Jesse Villemaire, who did the incisions for both Caul and Martin at his shop Thrive Studios, said it feels good to help beautify scars for customers.

“It’s really turning a new leaf for [them],” Villemaire said.

A not-so-strange history

Scarification may be popping up at tattoo shops across the country, but it’s not a new practice.

In African tribes the art form is done on females for sex appeal; the procedure is thought to prove their ability to withstand the pain of childbirth.

Calgary psychologist Dr. Jon Amundson said in North America it’s widely done for sexual appeal. An accepted form of scarification is plastic surgery and tanning, he said. It’s also used as a right of passage for black gangs in the southern U.S., he said.

Scars stay healthy

There is no Health Canada regulation of scarification. But provincial health inspectors are aware of the service and keep a close eye on operators to curb the risk of infection.

In Ottawa, for instance, tattoo, body piercing and scarification parlours are inspected once a year, said public health inspector Christian Lapensee.

“We are very much on top of things,” he said.

Inspectors make sure, for example, that artists use single-use sterilized scalpels.

Artists must be mindful to stay within the confines of body decor, despite their use of surgical-grade tools.

“We only do art, not plastic surgery,” said Calgary-based artist Keith Kennedy.