On TikTok a new trend has appeared, the “scar”. This potentially dangerous challenge consists of intensely pinching your face to leave a scar.
TikTok massively broadcasts videos of its users, often teenagers, who explain how to make a scar appear on their face. In these “tutorials“, young people film themselves violently pinching their cheeks and using a rotation to proudly see a red mark appear on their faces. The problem? The massive virality effect caused by the popularity of the Chinese application among these videos, some have indeed accumulated hundreds of thousands of views.
A schoolgirl told the Parisian this challenge: “I did this last week. At first it hurts a little and it swells. Then the pain passes, fortunately. I still kept the mark for four days. I told my parents that I had hit myself, otherwise I would have been yelled at”, explained the teenager. Rayane, a high school student explained to BFM TV that “everyone is going to start testing, accumulating views … it’s TikTok”, noted the young man.
Physical consequences
A practice that is not without danger, and can leave damage on the face. Dermatologist Marie Jourdan alerted the Parisian on the dangers of these pinches of the skin because these cause “dysfunctions of the blood microcirculation” she warned. One of the consequences according to the specialist is the appearance of a “stellate angioma”. This type of angioma was defined by dermatologist Nina Roos in the Journal des Femmes: “It is a cutaneous blood vessel that has dilated and has a star branching from the center”, explained the expert.
These angiomas can disappear naturally, approximately after two years, but some require the intervention of a specialist who will have to use the laser to make these marks disappear. Some scars will not be able to leave, warned Romain Prud’homme, dermatologist at BFM TV “There are deposits of blood that get under the skin. If these traumas are more violent, they can lead to marks that can be indelible”. What dissuade the followers of this challenge.