Ask Sam letter

Hi

Thanks very much for your letter. It sounds like you’re really worried about how people will react if they notice your cuts and scars when you have your tetanus injection.

It’s good to hear that you’ve felt able to tell your mum about your self-harm. I would always encourage people to ask for some support, rather than trying to manage self-harm on their own.

Scars do fade with time, so marks from new cuts will generally be more visible than old ones. Not everyone will react negatively to seeing your scars, but I can hear that that’s something you’re worried about.

Before you have your injection, is there a way you or your mum could ask the school nurse if you could have the injection in private? You could explain that you have scars on your arms that you are self-conscious about, and see what they say?

Finding a way to reduce or stop your self-harming is an important thing to think about in the longer term. While you are still working on managing your self harm, having a bit more control over how and when self harm scars are visible can be a big help.

There are things you can do to make your cuts and scars less noticeable. If there are marks on your wrists, you can try wearing chunky watches, lots of skinny bracelets or wristbands, or long sleeves. There are also some products you can buy in chemists and supermarkets which can help to fade marks and scars. Make-up can be a big help in covering scars too, particularly specialist make up known as camouflage creams.

An important step in your journey is to get the support you deserve with the things that triggered the urge to self harm in the first place. For more information and advice, check out the Self-harm page in Explore, or have a look at TheMix.

Take care

Sam