by Michael

The weekend of my high school graduation, I was in a terrible car accident.

We were both buckled up, so neither of us was thrown around when my pickup hit soft sand on the side of a sharp curve and flipped twice.

The roof and my door were crushed, and all four tires were blown. The only damage done to either of us was a huge gaping gash on my head, starting an inch below my hairline in the middle of my forehead and reaching all the way two inches up into my scalp.

Most of the flesh was simply gone in that area, and I had a good handful of glass imbedded all over my scalp. They had to shave a two-inch patch on the top of my head to dig it out - and I wore bandannas for months afterwards until it grew out enough to cut the rest of my hair off to match and grow it all out again. The huge gash in my forehead however, was tricky. They were able to sew the top part together, but there really wasn't any flesh to sew together for the half on my forehead. The doctor pulled down my hairline half an inch and my right eyebrow up a little to try to make it smaller, which left me with square inch diamond scar in the centre of my forehead.

The first year it was pretty purple and nasty and mountainous - everything a good scar should be. By the third year it was a normal skin colour and the texture didn't stand so much anymore.

Now it's been five and a half years, and to me it just looks like a part of my forehead - I even think it's a pretty shape. I've been offered laser treatment, but I don't think I'll ever want to.
I like it.

This story may have been edited by Children First for Health for editorial and confidentiality reasons only.

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• The Scar Information Service

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