Ever since I did my first one back in July (link) I’ve been wanting to do more. After careful consideration (read: my laziness ceased) I finally came up with an idea or two about what I could do for my next one. The one that particularly stuck in my mind after a while was this really basic idea about doing a couple of angled lines positioned in a row. So on Tuesday I decided to perform another self scarification, this time on my inner right ankle.

A week or two ago I ordered a few scalpels to aid in my (the then not thought of) procedure, as I had previously used a box cutter for my first scarification. It worked pretty well considering, but it wasn’t exactly the most optimal tool to use. After receiving them it didn’t take long before I got the urge to use them, and so I did.

I started off by trying to find something to clean my skin with. With the lack of any disinfectives, I resorted to the ghetto solution of a miniature bottle of Absolut vodka. I wasn’t really sure whether or not regular vodka would be of any use at all, I know it’s not exactly rubbing alcohol or anything like that, but it was what I had. A wikipedia search reveals alcohol has disinfective properties starting at 18% and peaking at 70%, so I figured it couldn’t hurt either way (feel free to correct me if this is absolutely useless). Not that I really think there was much point to it to begin with, although the scalpels are sterile it all boils down to the lowest common denominator, and I’m pretty sure there were some contact with other unclean surfaces or objects during the procedure anyway. Oh well, that’s the charm with do-it-yourself things isn’t it?

After I rubbed my the skin on my ankle clean (if you want to call it that), I took my trusty marker out and tried to draw up a few lines on my ankle with the help of a ruler to get them straight. After being somewhat satisfied with the alignment, I unsheated the scalpel and proceeded to do the cutting. I was quickly reminded of how wonderful adrenaline rushes are, as cliché as it may sound, you truly feel alive in those moments. The blood rushed to the surface of my skin, making it hard to judge the length and debth of the cuts, but I think I prevailed through it all with a nice result. The cuts aren’t quite equal, but it was never really in any way intended to be perfect, so I’m happy with the outcome.

Of course I had to take pictures, so here they are, in chronological order, with the last picture being taken 2 days after the initial cutting.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 23rd, 2007 at 06:34 and is filed under Bodymod, Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.