ID my vaccination scar

June 9, 2013 11:19 AM

What vaccine is routinely given to infants in China currently/within the past 20 years that will leave a small (non-keloid) scar at the injection site?

I was born in China in the early 90s and have a pretty much unnoticeable, small circular scar on my left upper arm (ignore the keratosis pilaris please). I have several friends around the same age, also born in China, who have similar scars, not always circular but never discolored/keloid-like. My medical records were translated into English when I moved to a Western country at age 3, and I don't think I have any especially unusual vaccinations. I've had the tuberculosis skin test multiple times and always come up negative.

Tried to google this to satisfy my curiosity, but am getting lots of information about BCG/tuberculosis (more obvious scar and false positive to tuberculin) and smallpox (no longer routinely given for my age group) which don't seem to apply to me.

posted by serelliya to Health & Fitness (16 answers total)

Did you have a tetanus injection? They can sometimes become inflamed and leave a scar. My sister has a scar from hers (although given after she was a baby).
posted by Jehan at 11:23 AM on June 9, 2013

Polio?
posted by sparklemotion at 11:23 AM on June 9, 2013

Best answer: That's a TB scar.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:29 AM on June 9, 2013

Best answer: It's almost definitely a BCG/TB scar.
posted by bradf at 11:29 AM on June 9, 2013

Response by poster: Huh. So it's possible to have had the TB vaccination and not test positive to the tuberculin skin test? I've changed school systems a few times and have had the test 2-3 times, always negative.
posted by serelliya at 11:33 AM on June 9, 2013

Since it's been many years since the vaccination, yes you can correctly show negative to the skin test.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:42 AM on June 9, 2013

That looks exactly like my smallpox vaccination scar.
posted by elizardbits at 11:49 AM on June 9, 2013

Er, to clarify: I was not born in China within the past 20 years so this data point may be irrelevant.
posted by elizardbits at 11:51 AM on June 9, 2013

Best answer: Judging by this vaccination coverage time series from the WHO, someone born in the early '90s in China would have received the tetanus toxoid, polio, measles, DTP, and BCG vaccines. If your scar were caused by a vaccination, it would have been one of the vaccines listed above. It doesn't look like smallpox was covered in the 1990s in China, likely due to its global eradication in the 1970s.
posted by The White Hat at 12:11 PM on June 9, 2013

Best answer: I had the BCG/TB vaccination as an infant and I test negative for TB.
posted by entropyiswinning at 12:13 PM on June 9, 2013

Response by poster: That vaccination time series chat is awesome. BCG sounds like the correct consensus, thanks everyone!
posted by serelliya at 12:21 PM on June 9, 2013

I'm going to chime in and say it looks exactly like my smallpox scar too. I have been immunized for TB also but don't have a scar from that one.
posted by t0astie at 3:38 PM on June 9, 2013

My parents have scars like that. I believe it was from the polio or smallpox vaccine in the late 50s or early 60s. But polio vaccines are oral now, so that's probably not what it is.

I agree that it's probably a TB vaccine. But it could be smallpox too.
posted by gjc at 7:20 PM on June 9, 2013

Looks like my smallpox scar, too. Upper arm, close to the shoulder.
posted by Kaleidoscope at 7:22 PM on June 9, 2013

My partner grew up in Ukraine in that time period and has the exact same scar. I just asked her, and she said it was from a smallpox vaccination. So I guess that's another coin for that side of the theory...
posted by emptythought at 7:39 PM on June 9, 2013

Since it isn't smallpox, it must be the BCG. They are the only two vaccines that are commonly given on the upper arm that routinely cause an abscess, as far as I know.
posted by monopas at 2:21 PM on June 10, 2013