tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417613683563024050.post2468467149222302804..comments2024-03-12T01:46:10.572+09:00Comments on Ask the Expat: What's the Deal with the Scars on the Arms of Koreans?The Expathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10795876773477053551noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417613683563024050.post-89053625993770872122021-06-29T05:18:50.536+09:002021-06-29T05:18:50.536+09:00I was diagnosed as HEPATITIS B carrier in 2013 wit...I was diagnosed as HEPATITIS B carrier in 2013 with fibrosis of the<br />liver already present. I started on antiviral medications which<br />reduced the viral load initially. After a couple of years the virus<br />became resistant. I started on HEPATITIS B Herbal treatment from<br />ULTIMATE LIFE CLINIC (www.ultimatelifeclinic.com) in March, 2020. Their<br />treatment totally reversed the virus. I did another blood test after<br />the 6 months long treatment and tested negative to the virus. Amazing<br />treatment! This treatment is a breakthrough for all HBV carriers.MATINAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03056834682621326306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417613683563024050.post-54868348880237742222012-05-13T12:41:46.484+09:002012-05-13T12:41:46.484+09:00Here's something relevant to this discussion: ...Here's something relevant to this discussion: A 2005 letter from three plastic surgeons regarding smallpox vaccinations, and the location used to do them. <br /><br />http://www.aafp.org/afp/2005/0801/ol2.html#afp20050801ol2-b4<br /><br />Two of the authors are in Taiwan, the other is in the U.S. The photos used are both apparently of Asian (probably Taiwanese) women with childhood vaccination scars. One is quite shocking. <br /><br />The doctors mention both the site of the vaccination (shoulder) as well as darker complexions as being a factor in the incidence of keloid scarring. <br /><br />While this letter is hardly definitive, it seems competently written by medical specialists in a professional forum. And it says a couple things: <br /><br />1) These scars are clearly not just a Korean or Asian issue, and are likely (but maybe not exclusively) smallpox related.<br /><br />2) However, there is a racial or complexion-related component to scarring. I think that can be fairly easily researched as well.Ben Singerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16497068576848644623noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417613683563024050.post-38931239170238458022009-06-03T22:08:07.127+09:002009-06-03T22:08:07.127+09:00Cinge,
Of course white people have scars. Everyb...Cinge, <br /><br />Of course white people have scars. Everybody does. The question was about Koreans, not white people. I appreciate your comment, but there is no need to get upset.The Expathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10795876773477053551noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417613683563024050.post-12555100313397531352009-06-03T20:35:35.586+09:002009-06-03T20:35:35.586+09:00UHHH..White people have the scars also. Back in th...UHHH..White people have the scars also. Back in the early 60's they lined you up at school and shot you with this type of gun. Wow, imagine, they didn't even bother changing the needle! I remember they also put a plastic cap thingie on the top of it. I don't know where you get that it is on/for Koreans.CINGEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09494866512122427895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417613683563024050.post-86171613211847700122009-05-29T08:01:50.993+09:002009-05-29T08:01:50.993+09:00I thought it was BCG/TB vaccine shot scar with som...I thought it was BCG/TB vaccine shot scar with some racial reactions of Keloid. But I read more of small pox shot here. it does not leave any or little scar from it. I got the BCG shot and it has just left me with twice bigger size of a scar of any pore around the it. Some Koreans over 40+ might have a bigger scar on them, using the primitive incision. I have seen them done that way when I was really young. And, yes, the scar is from the pus and scab of a thumbnail size.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417613683563024050.post-24078013698347091992009-05-26T09:44:44.741+09:002009-05-26T09:44:44.741+09:00That's barbaric as hell. I wonder why post-occupat...That's barbaric as hell. I wonder why post-occupation Korea chose to adopt that method rather than the simple needle.The Expathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10795876773477053551noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417613683563024050.post-37076484670612691232009-05-26T09:29:09.623+09:002009-05-26T09:29:09.623+09:00As far as the cause of the scar, I asked my 69-yea...As far as the cause of the scar, I asked my 69-year-old mother, who is a retired M.D. btw, about it, and she says back in the day when Korea was under Japanese occupation -- when public health programs and smallpox vaccinations in Korea were administered by Japanese or Japanese-trained doctors -- the procedure for administering smallpox vaccinations was somewhat primitive, if not barbaric, by todays standards, and not always sterile. She says that even after 1945, these practices continued unabated until recently, and are the primary reasons why Koreans born in Korea have these scars. <br /><br />According to her, she says that back in the day, smallpox vaccinations were administered by a doctor making a deep scratch -- using a "messer", as she described it, or more likely a scalpel -- on a small spot on the subject's upper left arm. <br /><br />Then, the doctor would smear a small amount of smallpox vaccine into the scratch and cover it up to allow immunity to develop. It was supposed to remain untouched and sterile until a scab formed and fell off, signaling immunity had been achieved. (Apparently this vaccination process was a commonly accepted way of administering smallpox vaccines not only in Korea, but throughout Asia and many developing countries, including Europe, especially 40-50 years ago.) <br /><br />According to her, the problem was that sterility was often compromised b/c the positive reaction required in healthy subjects usually caused extreme itchiness, which caused a lot of kids to scratch like crazy at the injection site, thus delaying scabbing and causing infections as well as long-term scarring.<br /><br />Of course, when I compare the method my parents went through to the the hassle free, assembly line, injection gun method used by the U.S. Army to administer my smallpox vaccines, obviously there is no comparison. (I remembered the soreness in my upper arms, as well as itchiness for a few days after the injection, but the scabs fell right off a week later.)<br /><br />You'll notice, however, injection-site scarring is becoming less and less prevalent in younger Koreans, especially nowadays. My nieces and nephews, for example -- all born in Korea from 1997-present -- barely have a noticeable scar at all.former11B20noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417613683563024050.post-79573316161194327492009-05-26T05:35:38.074+09:002009-05-26T05:35:38.074+09:00My concern is more related to the cause of the sca...My concern is more related to the cause of the scar. It looks like we're in agreement that it's from smallpox. I'm still wondering where the racial claim came from.The Expathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10795876773477053551noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417613683563024050.post-66740725271857447992009-05-26T00:44:44.468+09:002009-05-26T00:44:44.468+09:00You guys are getting way too hysterical about thes...You guys are getting way too hysterical about these "scars". First of all, this is a technology issue -- not a racial issue. The type of technology that has been used to administer innoculations en masse to Korean-born children starting from the 1930's onwards --particularly for smallpox -- were particularly invasive by western standards, hence the formation of these keloid scars (my Korean-born parents, born in the 1937/40, have these scars, as do all of my Korean-born relations). If you were born in the U.S. or anywhere outside of Korea and wonder why you don't have such a scar, you can thank your local public health officials for that and the fact that innoculations in the West used a less invasive method that was markedly different than the one used in Korea. (FYI, innoculation scars can be used to differentiate Korean-born Koreans from overseas-born Koreans -- Korean Americans, Korean Canadians, and other overseas-born Gyopos don't have the scar, at all.) FYI, for those harping on the "racial theory" regarding formation of "keloid scars", as a full-blooded Korean American, born and raised in the U.S., who has received every innoculation required and demanded of any American schoolkid, and as a U.S. servicemember, who has received every innoculation required of both enlisted and commissioned U.S. military personnel during basic training, ROTC, etc., I do not have one "keloid scar".former11B20noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417613683563024050.post-13512722350968378642009-05-24T11:06:32.895+09:002009-05-24T11:06:32.895+09:00Actually, I was under the impression that this sca...Actually, I was under the impression that this scar was from the vaccination for tuberculosis (TB). See the wikipedia article on the vaccination (including the scar it leaves, and its use in South Korea) here:<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_Calmette-Gu%C3%A9rin<br /><br />All South Koreans were given this vaccine up until the government policy requiring it was discontinued relatively recently.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417613683563024050.post-63025233386849485282009-05-23T10:27:27.340+09:002009-05-23T10:27:27.340+09:00I have seen some arm scars that look like keloids ...I have seen some arm scars that look like keloids here, but it's not very common. Why is it more common among Asians and Africans?<br /><br />As far as the difference between the two...<br /><br />http://www.ochealthinfo.com/epi/chicken.htmThe Expathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10795876773477053551noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417613683563024050.post-12612583496733659122009-05-23T01:17:49.089+09:002009-05-23T01:17:49.089+09:00I don't know that a smallpox scars can be looked l...I don't know that a smallpox scars can be looked like that. I thought it was a bitten scars or else. Anyway does smallpox and chickenpox related? ....<br /><br />I got my smallpox on my 22th years old but nothing scars like that appeared on this article<br /><br /><br />-----------------<br />http://www.pikirelyas.co.ccelyashttp://www.pikirelyas.co.ccnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8417613683563024050.post-13401305106519085012009-05-22T18:29:02.992+09:002009-05-22T18:29:02.992+09:00Also, East Asians (as well as black Africans and A...Also, East Asians (as well as black Africans and African Americans) have a greater incidence of keloid scarring than Caucasians. Keloids are swollen and discolored scars raised above the surface of the skin, and as appears in the above picture. However (and bearing in mind I'm not a medical professional), it seems strange that even a battery of shots would cause that kind of scar. Usually keloids arise from more serious injuries, such as a deep incision.holterbarbourhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16803994461554294553noreply@blogger.com