By far the largest risk is the aesthetic one. Branding, cutting, and scarification are far from precise arts, and because the call for scarification is much smaller than that for piercing or tattooing, most artists are simply not that experienced. In addition, even experienced artists have trouble getting consistent results because there are so many variables in the healing process. To compensate, many artists feel it’s responsible to stick to relatively simple geometric designs, rather than more intricate patterns. Additionally, there are risks of infection, as with other body art, but this is minimised with proper wound care. Also, improper technique (for example cutting or branding to deep) can be extremely dangerous, so be sure your artist knows what they are doing! Finally, I want to point out one that thing on the aesthetic risk: it’s not the artist that creates the scar, it’s your body. Everybody scars differently, so a technique that works great on one person may look horrible