[Sopater]

Is any of it considered cosmetic or is it always meant to be hidden?

[MississippiMan]

I knew a kid in the fifth grade who wold constantly stick straight pins just beneath the skin of his forearm, bury them op to the head, and be so proud of what he had done.

MM

[ElkGroveDan]

This is a really disturbing problem that I learned about in the last year or so. It is a key part of the story line in the 2007 novel See No Evil: by Allison Brennan.

(It's a great gripping mystery novel regardless.)

[martin_fierro]

[boxer21]

I think if I had to attend today’s schools, I would stick something more drastic than a pin into my body.

[MrEdd]

Generally it is meant to be hidden.

http://www.buslist.org/

http://www.scar-tissue.net/forum/faq.php

http://selfmutilatorsanonymous.org/?page_id=4

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Since the disorder was identified two months ago, at least six other hospitals have reported similar cases, Shiels said, and a national registry is being set up to monitor the cases.

All this effort for a few dozen cases.

Good thing they didn't do this with AIDS.

[fso301]

is it a disorder, botched attempt at self performed piercing or trying to copy someone like Amy Whinehouse?

[opus86]

Does it strike anyone else that the more bored our society becomes, the more self-destructive we become?

[taxcontrol]

When I was a kid, my idea of self injury was a football game, or sliding into second base. Can’t tell you how many stones I was pulling out of my “ground rash” days after the slide.