Being struck by lightning leaves a distinctive and often dramatic set of marks on the human body. The most recognizable is a branching, fern-like pattern burned into the skin, but the full picture includes shredded clothing, melted metal, blown-off shoes, and burns ranging from barely visible singeing to deep charring. A typical lightning flash carries about 300 million volts and 30,000 amps, and it heats the surrounding air to roughly 25,000 Kelvin (about 44,500°F) in microseconds. That combination of electrical energy and explosive force leaves traces that are unlike any other type of injury.
Lichtenberg Figures: The Branching Skin Pattern
The most visually striking sign of a lightning injury is the Lichtenberg figure, a red or reddish-purple pattern that spreads across the skin in delicate, tree-like branches. These marks look almost like a fern leaf or a river delta pressed onto the body. They’re considered a definitive sign of a lightning strike, meaning no other injury produces them.
Lichtenberg figures are technically a first-degree burn caused by electrical discharge traveling along the skin’s surface. They can appear on the torso, back, arms, or legs, depending on the path the current took. Despite how dramatic they look, they’re surprisingly temporary. The patterns typically fade completely within 24 hours, making them easy to miss if medical evaluation is delayed. They leave no permanent scarring on their own.
Burns, Puncture Marks, and Charring
Beyond the fern-like pattern, lightning produces several other types of skin damage. Punctate burns are tiny, pinpoint marks only 1 to 2 millimeters across. They often cluster on areas where skin surfaces were close together or in contact, like the inner thighs, lower abdomen, or groin. Beneath these small surface burns, there can be significant bleeding in the deeper tissue layers that isn’t visible from the outside.
The full range of visible damage varies enormously from person to person. Some strikes leave nothing more than singed hair. Others cause extensive deep burns that char the skin. Metal objects on the body tend to concentrate the damage: a necklace, belt buckle, or zipper can superheat in a fraction of a second, melting into the skin and leaving a full-thickness burn in the exact shape of the object. In one documented case, a silver necklace melted and welded into a soldier’s neck and chest, leaving behind a tattoo-like imprint of the cross pendant. Synthetic clothing can also melt directly onto the skin, creating deeper burns in those contact areas.
Shredded Clothing and Blown-Off Shoes
One of the most visually startling things about a lightning strike is what happens to the person’s clothing. The strike superheats moisture on and near the body almost instantly, turning sweat and rain into steam. That rapid expansion of air creates a pressure blast wave powerful enough to tear clothing apart, shred fabric into strips, and blow shoes clean off the feet. The effect looks explosive, and in a physical sense, it is. The air around the body expands violently, then collapses back inward as it cools, creating a shock wave similar to a small detonation.
This same blast wave can rupture eardrums and even fracture bones. So when witnesses describe a lightning strike victim as looking like they were caught in an explosion, the comparison is more accurate than it might seem.
What Happens Inside the Body
The visible marks tell only part of the story. Lightning causes simultaneous cardiac and respiratory arrest by depolarizing every heart muscle cell at once. The heart essentially receives one massive electrical reset. In many cases, a normal heartbeat returns on its own, but breathing takes longer to recover, which is why lightning cardiac arrests can be fatal without immediate intervention. About 90% of people struck by lightning survive, though many are left with lasting effects.
Lightning can also cause bleeding inside the brain, particularly in deep structures involved in movement and basic body functions. Damage to nerves throughout the body is common, caused by the electrical current directly injuring nerve cells along its path.
Temporary Paralysis After a Strike
A condition called keraunoparalysis (from the Greek word for lightning) causes immediate but temporary paralysis in one or more limbs after a strike. It most commonly affects the legs. The affected limbs go limp, lose sensation, and may appear pale, cold, and pulseless because blood vessels in the area constrict sharply. To a bystander, the limbs can look almost lifeless.
This paralysis is not permanent. Symptoms typically begin improving within the first 12 hours, with full resolution within a week. The condition resolves on its own as the blood vessels relax and nerve function returns, though it can be alarming for both the person experiencing it and anyone providing first aid.
Delayed Effects on Eyes and Ears
Not everything shows up immediately. Ruptured eardrums are common, caused by the pressure blast wave rather than the electrical current itself. Hearing loss can be partial or complete depending on the severity.
Cataracts are a well-documented delayed effect. The electrical energy causes proteins in the lens of the eye to break down and clump together, creating cloudy patches that impair vision. These cataracts typically start developing 1 to 12 months after the strike. Some remain stable for years, while others progressively worsen into full opacity. Lightning can also damage the optic nerve directly, compounding the vision loss. Because the onset is delayed, some survivors don’t connect their deteriorating eyesight to the original strike until an eye exam reveals the characteristic pattern of damage.