Practical Cutting

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Skin

Cutting generally involves the outer layers or skin, or epidermis. The intent is to either cause pain, or to create permanent or temporary designs in the skin.

In almost all cases only a few layers of skin are cut. Anything deeper seriously risks damage to:

• Nerves
• Muscles
• Major veins or arteries

Sometimes this damage can take a long time to heal or be completely irreversible.

Any bleeding caused by cutting, if it occurs at all, should stop within a few minutes. The skin should heal within a few weeks.

To prevent scarring, use adhesive bandages which hold the edges of the cut together during healing. Or, alternatively, use very, very light pressure on the knife when cutting.

To cause scarring, use adhesive bandages which hold the edges of the cut apart during healing. Or, alternatively, press a little harder to get a slightly deeper cut.

Knives

While an obvious place to look for knives to use in cutting would be a medical supply company or pharmacy, the hobby knives found in art supply shops or hobby stores are frequently good alternatives. In fact, it's common to find that the replaceable blades used in these knives are supplied in individual sealed sterile packets. This is because these knife blades are the same ones used in medical procedures.

The best types of knives to use are those with replaceable blades. This avoids the need to sharpen them, and reduces the need to disinfect because a new blade can easily and cheaply be used on each separate partner or occasion.

Where to cut

Common body areas for cutting include:

• Upper arms
• Breasts or chest
• Belly
• Buttocks
• Thighs

Beware of cutting near joints. The flexing of the skin near the joint can make healing difficult or messy.

Also beware of cutting where there are veins, nerves bundles, or muscles close to the surface of the skin, such as the wrist, back of the knee, etc.

Cutting

Before cutting, make sure that the area where you will be cutting is clean and disinfected. You can buy cleaning swaps soaked in disinfectant at medical supply stores or in pharmacies. Also wear latex gloves to prevent any of your skin oil or sweat contaminating the wound or infecting your partner with whatever horrible diseases you may have.

There are other medical disinfectants available especially for wounds, lesions, and rashes. Do not use these before the cutting. They commonly contain an anaesthetic to reduce the pain and this often defeats the purpose of the cutting in the first place.

When actually cutting, press very lightly. The knives and scalpels you'll be using are usually extremely sharp. You only want to cut through one or two layers of skin. Pressing will likely lead to deep cuts and subcutaneous damage.

If you are cutting with the intent of leaving a design in the form of scarring, it's common to build up the design over a number of weeks to allow healing to occur. This is because cutting weakens the fabric of the skin and can lead to tearing between cuts. For example, if you cut an "X" into someone's skin then it's common for the skin at the centre of the "X" to detach or peel back.

If you want to cut an "X", you should cut a "/" in one session, then wait a week or two for it to heal and then cut a "\" across the earlier "/". The result will be a clean "X" scar.

Alternatively, if you must do the "X" in a single session, do one long cut for the "/" and then two shorter cuts which jump over the "/" for the "\". In other words, the "\" is formed by two lines which come close to the "/" but which don't cut through it (a bit like this: "`/.").

After the cutting clean the area and press gauze against the wound(s) if they is bleeding until the bleeding stops.

See also

• Cutting