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Novel treatment (new drug/intervention; established drug/procedure in new situation)
CASE REPORT
Self-harm scar revision
  1. Nicholas Parkhouse1,
  2. Isabella Joy de Vere Hunt2
  1. 1Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, The McIndoe Centre, East Grinstead, RH19 3EB, UK
  2. 2Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
  1. Correspondence to Isabella Joy de Vere Hunt, isabella.deverehunt{at}balliol.ox.ac.uk

Summary

This report discusses in detail the case of a patient who underwent a scar revision procedure to have her characteristic self-harm scars altered. A detailed insight into the patient’s perspective was gained through semistructured interviews conducted at 6 weeks and 6 months postoperatively. The interviews found that an equally if not more conspicuous scar that was distinct from those created from self-harm had a pronounced psychological benefit for the patient. This article calls for more active management of the psychological sequelae of self-harm scars, with the need to facilitate access to surgical treatment in certain cases.

  • psychiatry
  • plastic and reconstructive surgery

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2017-222490

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors NP was responsible for the conception and design of the case report and gained initial permission from the patient for the interviews to be conducted and her case to be written up. IJdeVH was responsible for the organisation and conduction of the interviews with the patient, acting as an independent party who had not been involved in the surgical procedure. Both authors contributed equally to the write up of the case report.

    • Funding This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.