Nurses with SelfHarm Scars

Bare below the elbow. And 30degrees here. X

Tell 'em "Yeah you should see the other guy".

I second the idea of long sleeves. I have tattoos that I cover and I like sleeves also so that I don't get poo or some other foul body fluid on my skin. There are ones that are a lighter fabric that doesn't make me too hot during the shift. People are going to stare and ask questions and if you don't want to deal with that, the only way is to cover them up.

It all depends on what you're comfortable with. If it were me, I'd probably cover it. I don't even like my tattoos to show. I'm a private person and like to keep my private life to myself when I'm at work.

I'm an RN with self harm scars. Fortunately they are fairly old and not as noticeable.

I wear short sleeves at work. I occasionally get people who ask me what happens and I'm honest about it and tell the asker something along the lines of "a long time ago before I became a nurse I had a period of being very unhappy and depressed. The scars are because I used to deliberately hurt myself"

I take the approach while I'm not proud of this time of my life, I refuse to be ashamed of it, and if talking about it openly and honestly helps someone else who may be going through something similar then I'm cool with that

Also despite it being over 10 years, I remember when I was stuck in the middle of a continual cycle of self harm I was convinced that I was the only one who did this sick crap. Felt so alone and like no one would possibly understand. It wasnt until I came out the other side and started talking to other people that I realised how common it actually was

If you're comfortable talking about it with stranger, then I don't see anything wrong with telling the truth.

If it makes you uncomfortable, then I second the wearing long sleeves or coming up with a snarky or funny reply that will redirect their attention.

While most of my coworkers have visible tattoos, I choose to cover mine up with long sleeves at work. They're deeply personal to me and I don't want to have to answer questions every time a pt or coworker sees them. If you do decide to get tattoos to cover them up, that's something else to consider.

I wear 3/4 length sleeves at work, and I work in the NICU. I wear them under my scrub top. I haven't had a problem with it.

As for other people asking/saying something, a snarky remark is usually easiest. I told my nieces I got in a knife fight with a monkey. Something clearly ridiculous that conveys the fact you don't want to talk about it.

I gave myself a really bad black eye once and told people I had been a spy, I was protesting at the world economic summit, I was learning to juggle monkeys, and other things. It made people laugh and changes the subject at the same time.

I have never been asked before, but I have a feeling they have been noticed. Fluorescent light is the WORST for making them visible. I think they are probably worse looking to me than to most others. 99% of people probably don't care. But I notice I do think about it at least once every shift.

It really sucks that I had to go through it 15 years ago now...but it's my past and I've overcome many obstacles to be the nurse I am today. I am proud of my progress :) I hope you can be too!

I don't have self-harm scars but I do have an insulin pump and the continuous monitoring thing on my arm. It's not too personal to me, but if I don't feel like going into it, I just say it's my pocket pancreas or I'm turning into a robot/cyborg and leave it at that. People are so confused by the response I can usually get away :)

I have several old self-harm scars and prefer to wear long sleeves when possible. If people notice, they generally don't pry. My absolute favorite reaction was a kid who warned me about a caterpillar crawling up my arm. Turns out it was my biggest scar--with the old stitch marks it looks at first glance like a many-legged insect.

It's all up to you what you want to discuss with your colleagues. I personally take the view that nurses are human, and none of us will be perfect specimens of physical/mental health (or if we are, we won't be staying that way forever). It helps us empathize with our patients.