Scar tactics

Tattoos used to be the ultimate form of rebellion and self expression. But with everyone from choir girls to grandmas sporting butterflies and Japanese characters, body artists have had to redefine the unconventional.

Now, there's scarification, a form of body modification that uses scar tissue to create skin designs.

Think of it as the extreme sports of body art.

Unlike tattoos, scarifications can't be removed by lasers or Tat B Gone, and they're quite a bit more painful than the "pin-prick" feel people report with tattoo needles.

Scarification can be done a number of ways, none of them easy. There's hot-metal branding, the cauterizing pen, cutting of skin or actual removal of flesh.

It's so gruesome, when a tattoo parlor brands a customer, "it makes your shop smell like burning bacon," said Derek Zanetti, of In the Blood Tattoos on the South Side.

Scarification is not a new technique. It has been performed for thousand of years in Africa and parts of Australasia in rites of passage ceremonies and as badges of honor. But the body art technique is becoming increasingly popular in the Western world as a form of expression, said tattoo artist Roberto Maxwell, a.k.a. Mad Max, at Sinners and Saints in Shadyside.

Among local body artists, Maxwell is the only one known to perform scarifications. And he's only done about 30 in the past 20 years, he said. Part of the reason for the small number is that Maxwell only does scarifications on people who come back multiple times to show they're serious.

Pennsylvania does not require a licence to perform tattoos or scarification, said Richard McGarvey, spokesman for the state health department.

"I'm going to sit there with a scalpel and cauterize (the skin)," he said. "It's not like, 'This will just take a second.'"

After branding or cutting the skin, Maxwell advises his customers to irritate the area daily by picking at the scabs or running a soft bristle brush over the area while showering. This stops the skin from healing, and instead encourages scar tissue to permanently etch the design into the skin, Maxwell said.

"This is not something that you want to sit with your friend in the living room and do," he said.

Of course, some do. Dr. Guy M. Stofman, chief of plastic surgery at Mercy Hospital, doesn't see scarifications very often, but he's had several people in the past 14 years come in with scarifications that looked like they were done "in someone's garage."

"They want the scars revised or removed, and it can't be done," he said.

There are other risks to burning or cutting the flesh.

"You concern yourself about infection. There could be injuries to the structures underneath the skin, i.e. nerves," Stofman said.

People also should realize that scars can't be effectively designed even by tattoo artists, Stofman added, and they could end up with "unsightly" scarring.

"There are very few people who are more trained than plastic surgeons, and even to us, scars are unpredictable," he said. "Why would you trust a tattoo artist?"

The U.S. Navy developed a written policy regarding scarification after potential recruits were seen sporting the designs. All tattoos and body art are reviewed, said Navy spokesman Josh Hudson, and any that are deemed obscene, profane or that would discredit the Navy's motto of "honor, courage and commitment" are not allowed.

The Navy takes a harsher stance toward scarification.

"Intentional mutilation of any part of the body is prohibited," Hudson wrote in an e-mail. "Scarification would be considered mutilation and a disqualifier for enlistment."

Even many tattoo artists can't stomach the trend. "Cyco" Mike Martin said he occasionally sees people come into Angry Moon Tattoo in the South Side with amateur, do-it-yourself brandings. He said he's had a few people ask if he does them, but he shows them the door.

Tattoo artist Greg Davenport at In the Blood Tattoos said he's content to leave all the scarification business to Maxwell.

"I'm just not into that," he said. "It just looks so nasty, so painful."

Risks of scarification

Unpredictability: There's no way to know how the scars will appear when done. In fact, sometimes the scars heal and people will have to repeat the scarifications.

Infection: As with all medical procedures, tattoos and piercings, there is a risk of infection.

Unskilled artists: Because scarifications still aren't mainstream, many body artists only have limited experience with the techniques they'll be using. An unskilled artist could cut or brand too deep or apply the brand for too long.

Forms of scarification

There is no way to know how the design will look because each person's skin heals differently.

"There's nothing I do that makes the scar," said tattoo artist Roberto Maxwell, a.k.a. Mad Max, at Sinners and Saints in Shadyside.

But body artists can predict a general outcome by the type of branding or cutting they do.

Here's a run down of the more popular techniques:

• Strike branding: A piece of metal is heated and then applied to the skin. Unlike cattle branding, the designs are usually done piece by piece rather than with one large brand.

• Cautery branding: Cautery branding is done with a battery-powered cauterizing pen that heats up to anywhere from 1,400 to more than 2,000 degrees. This technique allows for more intricate designs but has also been found to leave scars that tend to fade.

• Cutting: A knife or scalpel is used to make shallow cuts into the skin in the form of a design.

• Ink rubbing: The skin is cut into a design and tattoo ink is then rubbed into the fresh cut. Unlike other forms, people are advised not to pick at these scabs because it will remove the ink.

• Skin removal: The body artist makes larger cuts and takes out pieces of skin to allow for larger scarring designs.

• Abrasion: This is generally an amateur form of scarification in which people rub objects along their skin to remove layers of the skin and create a design. It's a more extreme version of when high schoolers rub erasers on their arms, said Angry Moon Tattoo artist "Cyco" Mike Martin. In this technique, sand paper or a tattoo gun with no ink can be used to grind into and break the skin surface, leaving scars.

Source: Tribune-Review research