Erasing: an unsafe teen game parents should know about
Even after over a decade in pediatrics, teens always surprise me.
Last week a junior high student came into a checkup with the scabbed hand pictured in the photo above. Apparently there is a game new to me called "Erasing". My patient told me the game can be played with any type of eraser, but the pink one at the end of a number two pencil works best. The object of the game is rub with an eraser hard enough to "erase" as much of your skin on the back your hand as possible. The players each choose a ligament (one of the cords which run from your knuckles to your wrist) to "erase." The first person to stop erasing loses the game.
If you find your teen erasing, tell them about the dangers of infection and scarring. Since a teen often does not understand long term ramifications, it is often a more a more effective deterrent to tell him/her to stop because it "looks ugly". Even if your teen is not erasing, use a discussion about erasing as a starting point to talk about other self injurious behaviors (i.e. "choking games" where the object is to cut off someone's breathing).
Since I thought erasing was a brand new trend, I took the photograph to show the other doctors in my office. When I flashed the photo in front of one of my colleagues, he glanced briefly at it and said," Oh, that's erasing- I did that when I was a kid."
Amazing we all got through.
Pass this info on to other parents.
Naline Lai, MD
Posted by Two Peds in a Pod at 10/16/2009 11:43 AM 
Categories: 6. Tweens, 7. Teens
Tags: teens self_injury erasing teen_behavior
Categories: 6. Tweens, 7. Teens
Tags: teens self_injury erasing teen_behavior
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Is erasing a thing to be worried about? I noticed my 13 year old nephew has starting doing it and it's leaving quite a few scars.
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It is, as you comment, amazing that we all got through childhood and adolescence.
This article will help us---sometimes bewildered parents and grandparents of teens---know how to recognize some of the subtler warning signs of self-destructive behavior in the young strangers we are trying to raise to be healthy adults. Thanks for the heads-up.
G'pa Jack
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...just heard the article on NPR and really appreciate this information for parents! Thank you!
(It's another of the many things that kids learn that takes forever to find out as a parent.)
And the medical implications are invaluable too, of course!
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Tough games! They try to prove that they are strong and mighty and prove that that are still so small and silly.
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uh me and my friends have played this games but we played it on our wrists. thats how its played where i live.
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This is not only a game, people are using this as a way to self harm. Like cutting without the blood. It's sad.
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