Therapeutic Branding: A Common and Bizarre Practice That Scars for Life

Branding of skin in a living person is an ancient practice, was used to indicate ownership, as a membership of a cult, as a method of punishment, and even for public humiliation. While the above uses of branding are on a decline, we have come across numerous instances of the use of branding as a therapeutic measure. These archaic practices exacerbate the original illness and lead to complications such as secondary infection, scars, and keloid formation. Our objectives for this study were to document and analyze the use of therapeutic branding, focusing on its clinical implications, sociodemographic profile of affected individuals, underlying medical conditions for which branding was performed, and association of morbidity and mortality.

This is a hospital-based retrospective observational study conducted in the Department of General Medicine at a tertiary care hospital of central India. We identified branding marks in admitted patients in the medical wards, and as part of the standard of care, we documented the history and circumstances leading to branding marks and captured a photograph of these lesions after consent.

We identified branding marks in about 15 admitted patients. Five (33%) of these had an acute medical condition, and two (13%) of them did not survive the hospital stay. Another 10 (67%) had a chronic medical condition, and four (27%) of these did not survive beyond hospital stay. In 10 (67%) patients, branding delayed the diagnosis of the underlying condition.

Therapeutic branding is complicating the underlying illness and increasing mortality and morbidity.