Body Modification Culture - 5 Unfamiliar and New Modification

Over the last 100 years, the body modification community has become bigger and bigger. Due to the increasing acceptance in society people who wear tattoos and piercings are no longer pigeonholed as prisoners. Furthermore, there are many new types of body modifications, which can be fascinating and a bit scary at the same time. Today I will present 5 unfamiliar body modifications that will probably surprise you. If you don’t want to see them, you should skip this post.

Ear Pointing:

Ear Pointing is a surgical procedure, in which the ear is cut, reshaped and sewed together to make it look like an elves ear. It is very common among Lord of the Rings fans, but it is still a quite unusual body modification. I don’t find that very surprising, as the procedure is done without anesthesia. The reason for this is that generally body modification artists have no allowance for it and the ‘normal’ plastic surgeons never do ear pointings. So anybody who wants elf ears has to be willing to go through a lot of pain for it. Moreover there is always the risk of failure. The ears might get infected, the stitches might burst, and during the healing process the shape can change a lot. But admittedly, I really love the look of pointed ears, provided they do NOT fail. Anyway I would never consider getting them, because of two reasons: Firstly, I am incredibly scared of the procedure and secondly, I still don’t know, which profession I will work in one day. But it is always great to look at people with elf ears. I admire them for their courage.

Corset Piercing:

Corset piercings are done multiple times. Mostly they are placed on either side of the spine and they can be connected with cords, to create the illusion of a corset laced up the body. But it is also possible to get them nearly anywhere else on the body. They belong to the category of play piercings, which means that they normally are taken out of the body after a few days. Corset piercings can also be worn permanently, but this is even more unusual, as they are obviously very irritating in everyday life. They get easily tangled with clothes and the pressure on the rings can cause infections. All in all it is very likely that corset piercings migrate and are rejected by the body over time. But it is still popular among people that appreciate alternative looks and it is often worn as a party gag. I really like how they look, especially because I like corsets in general. But I hate the idea of temporary piercings as they cost a lot of money and the pain is probably really bad. 

Watch the video (if you dare)!

Stretched Piercings:

Stretched lobes are already quite common, but it is also possible to stretch labrets (lip piercings) nostrils (nose piercings), cheek and septum piercings. The stretching is achieved by conical bars, known as ‘Expanders’. Once a month, the expander is shoved through the piercing hole to make it bigger one by one. If it’s done slowly and carefully, the procedure is not too painful, even though it might seem like that. Stretching any piercing other than lobes is very uncommon, as it reveals parts of the body that are normally hidden, e.g. the inner nose and mouth. Personally I have stretched my lobes to 1cm. As I mentioned, it wasn’t too painful for me, but it took quite a long time. I also like bigger lobes, but when they are stretched to sizes over 1cm, they will probably not shrink back, so I leave them how they are. Stretched labrets, nostrils and cheeks on the other hand are not to my taste and I think that it only suits a few people. For example the girl on the picture.

Subdermal Implants

Subdermal implants are sometimes also called ‘3D tattoos’ which is actually not correct as it is not ink but silicone which is implanted under the skin to make it look raised. Today it is possible to achieve a huge variety of shapes using subdermal implants and they can be put nearly everywhere. Some brave people also get them in their eyes! Furthermore it is possible to get little magnets implanted in your fingers to magically attract little iron pieces. That is certainly also a very funny party gag. All in all I am not a huge fan of the ‘standard’ subdermal implants, as I think they can sometimes look like skin diseases.

Bagel Head

This is probably the most uncommon body modification you have ever seen. Through a needle, sterile saline gets injected under the skin of the forehead. After a while, a little bump starts to grow on the forehead. Then the body modifier presses his finger on the middle of this bump to shape it like a bagel. It is also a temporary modification, as the saline gets absorbed by the body after about ten hours. The bagel head was first presented on a Japanese body modification convention in 1999 and it has become popular in the Japanese fetish scene.  The Bagel Head is mostly worn on parties and it is rarely performed anywhere else in the world. Fortunately the medical risks seem to be quite low, as long as the procedure is performed correctly. All in all the Bagel Head might be quite shocking to some of you, and I have to admit that it also gave me goose bumps to see the video about it. But as long as people feel confident with this modification, there is nothing wrong with it.

That is also the final message of my blogpost: Obviously, those more extreme forms of body modifications are not for everyone, but I think that our society still needs to become more tolerant towards it. Even though modified people are not pigeonholed as prisoners anymore, they are still considered antisocial, lazy and unemployed very often, which I find really sad. In the end, a person should be judged by his or her skills and not by appearance.