Understanding Skin-cutting in Adolescence

Adolescents are said to be, figuratively speaking, thin-skinned. But their thin-skinnedness is also real: both ambivalent and ambiguous, the border between self and other is, for many young people, a source of constant turmoil. The recourse to bodily self-harm is a means of dealing with this turmoil and the feelings of powerlessness it generates. Drawing on extensive semi-structured interviews conducted over the course of the last twenty years, this article explores the experiences of adolescents who engage in self-cutting. A deliberate and controlled use of pain, this ‘symbolic homeopathy’ – that is, harming oneself to feel less pain – acts as a defence against externally imposed suffering. Far from being destructive, self-harm practices can paradoxically be understood as survival techniques. Part of a long-term, ongoing project investigating adolescent risk-taking, this article seeks to better understand the experiences of teens who injure themselves through skin-cutting.

Interactive Surgery System with 3D Electromagnetic Motion Tracker for Training Surgeons in Skin Cutting Skills Needed in Total Knee Arthroplasty

Total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is an effective surgery for knees damaged by osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and post-traumatic arthritis. This procedure requires an expert surgeon with a high level of skill and experience. Although a navigation system for improving precision and shortening operative time has been already studied, there has not yet been a study done on an instruction system for improving the skills of surgeons. The purpose of this study is to develop a training system that teaches the TKA surgery so that non-expert surgeons can use it to obtain skin-cutting skills. The proposed method includes a simulator for a model knee with a 3D electromagnetism motion tracker. Through experimentation, a method of evaluating incisions into the skin is established by tracing a line with a mock scalpel. The proposed method is applied to six non-experts. The results for the length experiments are 87.82±8.88 (Set 1: non-teaching), 92.66±5.77 (Set 2: teaching), and 92.14±6.17 (Set 3: non-teaching). The results for the position experiments are 70.64±15.11 (Set 1: non-teaching), 83.63±10.07 (Set 2: teaching), and 82.05±7.80 (Set 3: non-teaching). In conclusion, the proposed method succeeds in teaching the operator scalpel incision skills.

The Design of the Tiny-Skin Transplanter’s Pneumatic Control System

This paper developed a tiny-skin transplanter which was used in making and enlarging the tiny square skin before the skin transplantation. It introduced the design process of the transplanter’s pneumatic control system which provided negative pressure to the skin-cutting platform and separating device, and controlled the rising and descending of the cutting system and separating device, and controlled the cutting platform’s rotation.

Resisting Urges to Self-Injure

The present study explored whether and how self-injurers attempt to resist urges to harm themselves. Participants were 39 young adults with a history of skin cutting and other non-suicidal self-injurious behaviors. A structured interview assessed the prevalence and perceived helpfulness of 48 methods for resisting self-injurious urges. Ninety percent of participants indicated that they had made efforts to resist urges to self-injure. These individuals had used an average of 16 different methods, and reported that they were successful in resisting the urges most of the time. “Keeping busy” and “Being around friends” were the most common methods used to resist self-injurious urges. However, “Doing sports or exercise” and “Removing the means/instruments typically used to self-harm from the home” were rated as being the most helpful for resisting self-injurious urges. Findings have implications for enhancing treatment and guiding future research.