The TikTok social network is used to wacky trends and sometimes dangerous for the health of its young users. “Blackout challenge“Consisting of holding one’s breath for as long as possible,”ice bucket challenge“to pour a bucket of ice water over your head, drink 4.5 liters of water a day… The latest? pinching the skin of the face at the level of the cheek by performing a twist in order to obtain a (fake) scar. Tutorial videos that can sometimes accumulate more than 500,000 views. If the gesture may seem harmless, it can nevertheless be irreversible, and the stains may never go away.
But why is it dangerous? “When you pinch your skin very hard, you burst the small blood vessels. Especially if you do it multiple times”warns dermatologist Catherine Oliveres, interviewed by our colleagues at HuffPost. Spider angiomas, a tiny star-shaped arterial network creating small red spots under the skin, can then appear. The problem ? They can take two years or more to leave. Rosacea plaques, an abnormal and permanent dilation of small blood vessels, may also appear. It does not present any danger, but can be unsightly.
@dineroosk Responded to @NikOmok #fyp#fypシ♬ original sound – Not ouehda
Can these small stains be treated? “It is necessary to do a vascular laser session to treat small vessels. I haven’t covered it yet, but I think it’s coming soon. I don’t know if the parents will be happy to pay 100 euros“If in some cases, a single session may be enough, some angiomas may never disappear again.
Self-harm or not?
Despite the alert of many dermatologists, TikTok has indicated that it has no intention of removing the videos from the platform, despite a incitement to create superficial wounds. According to its rules, the platform nevertheless deletes “content that evokes, encourages, trivializes or glorifies activities that could lead to suicide or self-harm“.
Contacted by BFM, the social network does not define this practice as self-harm, but nevertheless promised to no longer recommend these videos in the users’ algorithm.
