Ouch! I've seen a few dogs with cuts like that at my work when people tried to use scissors. It's really easy to get the skin instead of the matt. I always use clippers to shave matts out if they are really close to the skin...maybe you could get one of those small pairs of clippers? (something like this http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.as...t=clipper&cp=3 )