A game popularized on Tiktok, which consists of creating a scar on the face, worries dermatologists, because this trend is not without risks.
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- The scar game involves creating a scar on your face by pinching and twisting your cheek.
- This practice can cause small blood vessels in the skin to burst and dilate.
- It can also cause a spider angioma which persists and which must be treated with laser or electro-coagulation.
One Chip Challenge, Blackout Challenge, Tranquilizer Challenge… Every month, even week, new dangerous challenges emerge and are all the rage on Tiktok. The latest: “scar game”. This tendency consists of strongly pinching the cheek by turning it to see it blush and temporarily make a mark appear. On the Chinese platform, many teenagers show how they took up the challenge and publish their video.
“Scar game”: the risk is “to get a spider angioma that persists”
Problem: Creating a scar by pinching your cheek has aesthetic consequences. “In the skin, we can see that there are dilated vessels, sometimes even burst vessels that will persist”she explained, France Info, Marie Jourdan, member of the French Society of Dermatology (SFD). This practice can cause dysfunctions of the blood microcirculation. “If you want to mark your cheek temporarily, the danger for these young people is to get a spider angioma that persists, and therefore to keep aesthetic sequelae”, reported the specialist to Parisian.
A spider angioma “goes away after two years”
A spider angioma is a small, ruby-red spot, consisting of a dilated central vessel surrounded by thinner dilated capillaries (the smallest blood vessels) similar to the legs of a spider, according to the MSD Manual. “On matte skin, there can be a phenomenon of pigmentation with the sun. We will therefore have a stain that is not red but brown. (…) When we are lucky, it goes away after two years but it can also stay much longer”, clarified the dermatologist to Europe 1.
When the spider angioma does not disappear after this time, laser treatment is necessary to remove the small dead vessels. “The price of the session can vary between 100 and 200 €”, she told France Info. Other option: “we can use an electric needle which will destroy the dilated blood vessels. This is called electro-coagulation”, said the practitioner.
