Will a doctor ask about my self harm if they notice it??
 

Help please - I'm so worried. I have a appointment with a rheumatologist consultant in 3 days for my joints and they'll have to examine my hands and wrists. Last week I self harmed again and scraped my hand and arm with a [edited] and now I'm left with pretty noticeable cuts/scars - particularly on my hand. It was as so stupid of me and I'm so annoyed with myself for doing it.

There's no way the doctor won't notice dark red lines on my hand. Will they say anything? I'm 17 and my mum will be with me. I don't want to talk about it with the doctor and I absolutely do not want my mum finding out.

So will the doctor say anything and is there any way I could get rid of the scars before wednesday??

Re: Will a doctor ask about my self harm if they notice it??
 

I don't think there is any way to speed up the healing process that much.
Though while it depends on your doctor if they are somewhat sensitive they will not ask. At least not infront of you mom. Usually doctors know that much. They've seen sh scars before so don't worry about being judged by them. And even if they ask you can always tell them you don't want to talk about it though the doctor only wants your best so while it might be uncomfortable you could try talking with them anyway.
If you don't trust your doc to not say anything infront of your mom maybe you can ask to go in alone? Like say you're already 17 and want to learn to do these things on your own. That way she won't be with you in the room when he sees them.
Best of luck :)

Re: Will a doctor ask about my self harm if they notice it??
 

I would expect that it would depend on the doctor. Usually if they only notice old scars, they don't say anything at all. With new scars, it's difficult to say. While 17 is usually too young to go to doctor appointments alone, you are able to ask parents to step out of the room (and some doctors push parents to step out of the room for teens). If you do this, it's more likely that if your doctor says anything at all, it would be then. However, since you are a minor, the doctor can legally still tell your mom about self harm, but that hasn't been my experience, and most doctors won't. I have never had a doctor ask me about scars, even when I was a minor.