◆ PARALLAX

found a scar on the back of my calf about a year ago. thin, white, fully healed, clean straight edges, looks for all the world like a small surgical cut.

i have no memory of cutting it. no memory of any procedure. my wife has no memory of it either and she'd remember stitches. im a practical man, i fix fence and i doctor cattle, i am not prone to this. but i keep a log now like folks here told me to and the scar is in the log with a question mark next to it.

question for the medical people, NightShiftNurse maybe: is it worth getting it imaged, or am i just going to waste a doctor's afternoon and what's left of my dignity. genuine question, not a leading one.

Worth getting looked at if it is new to you, but I would not start with demanding an MRI. Start boring: note the size, exact location, color, whether it is raised or sunk, and whether the calf underneath feels different.

If there is pain, warmth, swelling, drainage, fever, numbness, or a change in walking, that moves it out of curiosity and into get-seen-soon territory. If it is just a flat old white line, a regular appointment is not dignity-wasting. That is exactly what primary care is for.

RanchHand, I have collected scars like fence staples collect denim, and I can tell you memory is not a neat filing cabinet. I have one on my shin I would swear came from nowhere, and my sister says I tore it open on a trailer hitch when I was twelve. I remember the trailer, not the blood.

Measure it against a coin, write down where it is, and maybe ask whoever knew you back when you were younger. A doctor visit is not surrendering your dignity. It is just letting someone with better light and cleaner hands look at the thing.

Derm nurse here, not diagnosing you over a board. Thin white lines are often mature scars, and mature scars can come from cuts, scrapes, burns, bites, punctures, or even skin that split under tension and then healed quietly. The fact that it is white usually means it is not brand new.

Imaging usually answers questions about deeper tissue, foreign bodies, masses, bone, vessels, etc. A flat, stable surface mark often starts with history and exam, not a scanner. But if there is a palpable lump, tenderness, tethering to deeper tissue, or any change, a clinician may decide whether ultrasound or plain film makes sense.

The part I would separate is "I don't remember" from "something was done to me." The first one happens all the time. The second may or may not have any evidence attached to it. Bodies keep lousy minutes.

If you want to be methodical, make a little timeline of places you lived, jobs, sports, accidents, surgeries, and who might remember. Then make a separate page for the mark itself. Keeping those pages separate helps keep speculation from driving the truck.

I am new here and probably too jumpy, but this kind of thing would make me spiral. I found a little pale mark on my thigh last year and convinced myself it meant some hidden hospital thing. My mother finally remembered I slid down a brick step as a kid and refused stitches because I was screaming.

Not saying that is your answer. Just saying the no-memory part feels much scarier than it always is. I would still ask a doctor if it keeps bothering you, because peace of mind is a real medical need too.

If you post back, describe it like a map instead of like a mystery. That makes it easier for the medical folks to talk sense.

back of calf\n\n   knee\n    |\n    |      scar: 1.5 in, pale, flat?\n    |        -----\n    |\n  ankle\n

Length, width, direction, flat/raised/sunken, tender/not tender, moves with skin or feels stuck, and whether there is anything under it. Photos are not needed here, just the details. Then take the same notes to a clinician if you go.

Doctor visit is cheaper than months of chewing on it.

Ask for an exam. Let them decide if pictures of the inside are useful.