BodMod Week: Amputation.

Hoo boy. Out of all the body modifications this week, today's entry is the most likely one to instantly label someone as a mental patient. Even with eyeball jewelry, tongue bifurcation, and Poke Balls that look like they could give birth to Pokemon at any minute, one body mod stands out as being really, really fucked up: Amputation.

Or maybe he lost his arm in combat and decided to turn it into a shark.

 

Yes, cutting off a limb can be considered an artistic body modification. It is also, theoretically, the simplest mod done this week. All it entails is cutting off a limb, genitalia (which I am NOT getting into) or...well, anything else. It can be done as part of a religious rite (ceremonial castration comes to mind) or as a sign of a seriously sick mind.

Before you ask what possesses people to do this, amputation is one of the few body modifications with its own set of mental disorders. As per another website on the subject, "Psychiatrists believe that limb amputation is not a sexual fetish or psychosis but a symptom of body dysmorphic disorder, a crippling, but largely unheard of and undiscussed, mental disorder related to Obssessive Compulsive Disorder. BDD sufferers obsess about minor flaws or imagined defects, usually involving the head and face. It can lead to social phobia and reclusion as sufferers avoid contact with others to hide their imagined deformities." 

In short, these people believe that they are freaks and seek to rectify the problem. The end result is something akin to a "chicken or the egg" puzzle; if one thinks one is a freak and, in fixing themselves, look like a freak to everybody else, it's eerily self-fulfilling. 

 

Another disorder commonly associated with amputation is Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID), sometimes simply called "Amputee Identity Disorder." People with BIID do not feel right as long as they have all their limbs. After reading a few reports, it sounds suspiciously like the sensations associated with the Otherkinism mentioned last entry: A general feeling of being not at home in one's body. At least these people are serious about getting their limbs hacked off - after all, they usually have to do the hacking themselves.

These mental disorders create a crisis for surgeons asked to amputate. If somebody with BDD or BIID really thinks that they are in need of an operation, there is a chance that they will perform it themselves and die in the process. It is illegal to amputate a perfectly healthy limb most of the time; this means that many of BDD and BIID people have to freeze their body parts off or otherwise remove them themselves. Even licensed surgeons refuse to cut off a working leg.

 

Some body modifications, like tattoos, are relatively harmless. Amputation is not one of them. Magnify every "be careful when you do this!" warning we have ever given by 100. There was a reason we ended BodMod Week with amputation.

Tomorrow: Finally, we get back to animals! Have you ever wondered what it must be like to see on the full light spectrum? :D

BodMod Week: Tongue Splitting.

There's a group of people online who, for whatever reason, wanna be dragons. They are so desperate that they dress up as dragons and write crazy fiction about becoming dragons, then usually taking revenge on all of humanity. Some of them even claim to feel wings, claws, and tails as phantom limbs. That's either insane or hardcore depending on how you look at it.

They are not, however, hardcore enough to do this:



That is not a genetic mutation, nor does it allow for a human to sense the world like a snake or lizard in any regard. (If you want that, reactivate your Jacobson's Organ.) It is just a modification to make things look reptilian, and is called tongue-splitting, bifurcation, or forking (pick your favorite). Such a mod was almost unheard of in the late 90's, but is becoming more and more common.

 

The first recorded tongue splitting was done in 1996 by Dustin Allor, a 19-year-old body piercer. She did it herself by cutting her tongue slowly with a piece of fishing wire, then letting the wound heal. The result was two separate prongs that could move independently. Shortly after, in 1997, the Lizardman had his own tongue forked.It was really just a drop in the bucket for him.  The modification has risen in popularity since.



The methods of tongue splitting vary, but they are all very painful. There's the fishing twine mentioned above, but as the mod gained popularity, more techniques came out. Scalpels are used by most licensed tongue-splitters. Cauterizing (splitting the tongue in half with a laser or cautery unit) is another valid method. All of these are painful; reversing the process is doubly so.

Tongue-splitting is so notorious that the U.S. has outlawed it in several instances. Anything that detracts from a military image, including a forked tongue, is outlawed in the army. Illinois was the first state outlawing tongue splitting, and was soon followed by New York, Delaware, and Texas. Australia enacted a ban on this mod in 2003. The military case is understandable, but it's somebody's body. They'll fork their tongues if they want to; illegalization just means that it will have to be on the black market (or in Indiana with all the fireworks and venomous snakes).

Tomorrow: Probably the easiest mod in the book...

BodMod Week: Corset Piercings.

 Just when you thought that silicone implants beneath one's tattoos were nuts, you see something like this:

 

If you think you have seen something like this before but cannot quite place where, those piercings are meant to mimic the back of a corset - a garment used to give women an hourglass figure. This does not do that at all. It is just made to give the illusion of a corset. It does not have to be on the back, either - several people have done corset piercings on their chests, arms, or legs.



This effect is done by using something called captive bead rings. Captive bead rings are special piercing rings that use a bead to close them - that is, they will not snag as easily as some other type of closures. This structure makes them ideal for looping ribbons through...again, and again, and again.

Corset piercings are usually done for events like photo shoots and kinky parties. They are vulnerable to the same risks of infection as other piercings. For short periods of time, they are also sometimes inserted with a hypodermic needle. Emphasis on "short periods of time."


Again, this one just LOOKS painful.

Most people are sane enough to remove corset piercings after a week. Those who have attempted permanent piercings have not been very successful. Such a modification would take a lot of maintenance every day. It would not be worth having a corset that one could not take off.

Tomorrow: HISSS! A shame this one doesn't grant REAL snake-vision, otherwise I'd do it in a heartbeat.

BodMod Week: 3-D Tattoos.

Has anyone else gotten really, really annoyed with the 3-D craze that has been hitting theaters and TV screens since Avatar? Avatar was not a good movie in terms of the story; it was had a visual gimmick. How To Train Your Dragon blew that gimmick out of the water and was a better movie overall. If your movie needs 3-D to be good, it is not a good movie.

Similarly, if your tattoo needs 3-D just to be a good tattoo, it is probably a bad idea. You are also probably stoned. No offense, but whatever you plan on putting in 3-D had better be one of the most badass things on this planet.




If you thought that bagelheads were bad, 3-D tattoos are taking silicon/saline implants to the next level. They use subdermal implants of silicon and saline to give tattoos a texture. This requires surgery, injections, or both; not every tattoo artist will perform them simply because they are not licensed to do so.

Bagelheads and other types of body inflation have one silver lining over implant tattoos: Bagels go away. These things are going to stick around for life. Some of them, like the spider, look pretty cool and are rational tattoo ideas (even if the 3-D is pushing it a little). Others, well...


This is a good idea...how?  

 Some people say that tattoos are a bad idea by themselves. Getting a surgical procedure to enhance them is hardcore, yes, but one has to be careful with permanent body modifications. 3-D tattoos have to be based on something seriously worth 3-Ding. Otherwise, one could end up like this fellow forever:

Gotta...Catch 'em...All? O.o;

...seriously, that just looks painful. Ballsy move, but not worth permanent mental and physical scars. Inflation would have been a better choice, man.


Tomorrow: Do you like corsets? Forget the rack-pushing; some people just love that zig-zagged ribbon enough to want it in their skin.

BodMod Week: Bagelheads.

We can understand some silicon-saline implants. Rack jobs, for instance, look all right. Getting the same thing done to one's nutsack is slightly less attractive, but no less logical if one is trying to outdo a tanuki in endowments. (For your own safety, do not Google Image that.) The majority of saline treatments have no such method to their madness.

Do you remember that that one guy in high school who would do anything, and we mean ANYTHING, just to be different? We swear that this way of thinking is the only justification for "bagelheads." (No, they are not called that in Japan.)

 

Bagelheads are exactly what they sound like: People with one or two saline solution bagels rising up out of their foreheads.This is done by a professional piercer with a saline drip that causes the desired area to swell up immensely like an intentional tumor. The lump can then be molded into any shape.



In general, this mod is called body inflation; "bagelhead" is used only to describe the strange cluster of individuals that have picked a bagel instead of some other shape. Presumably, the bagel was chosen because there are a lot of commuters in Japan and the lumps are fun to dye like real bagels. By the way, rumor has it that some people do not stop at the head and get bagels in their arms, breasts, and asses.

Why? It's a fad. Like all fads, it is silly and most of its followers are doing it just to feel cool. There are, as far as pics can tell, not that many people doing it (a search yields only 2-4 different bagelheaded individuals). Besides, how many people do you see in Tokyo with bagels on their heads? Surely that is a sign telling Godzilla to eat them first. 

Mmm, donuts!

The good news is that bagelheads are temporary. They only last for a night before one's immune system takes care of them. Side-effects include stretched skin (no, really?), headaches (again), infection, eyes swollen shut, and the same sordid feeling that one gets after reading bad hentai. Imagine if bagelheads were permanent; people would regret getting their baker's dozen if they were stuck with flesh-bagels.

Tomorrow: Tattoos and silicone injections - two things that people often wind up regretting. Especially in combination.

BodMod Week: Eye Tattoos (...and other jewelry).

Name one place that you do not want to get poked, kicked, slashed, or poked with a really hot French fry. Chances are, your first guess was your eye (or, if you have balls, your crotch). The eyes are usually the most vulnerable point on a creature; even dragon fanatics usually peg the eyes as the weakest spot on their supernatural uber-beasts. Hell, nature has several weapons designed to aim for the eyes, just because it sucks to get hit there.

"Cobra venom" is one of the most badass ways to get blinded.

Some people say, "fuck nature, we can take it." The things that humans will willingly put inside their eyes are, well, eye-popping. The most common trend catching eyes these days is corneal tattooing - a practice known since ancient times as a medical procedure, but more recently done just to freak people out.



Sticking ink in one's eye is not anything new. Eyeball tattoos are one of the oldest forms of tattoo art.  They go back as far as Ancient Rome. Galen of Pergamum, a Roman philosopher, used them to conceal white spots on the cornea. Various other doctors have performed their own tweaks on the procedure of medical eyeball art.


"Just hold still while I stick this ink-coated needle into your eye..."

Yes, eyeball tattooing has medical benefits. It can reduce the unsightly effects of eye diseases such as leucoma, cataracts, keratitis, various diseases of the iris and even the sight impairments caused by albinism. Besides simple cosmetic changes, the ink may help reduce glare in the eye and promote visual acuity. Hey, laser surgery was discovered by accident when a guy got glass in his eye; don't knock it 'til you've tried it.



As a body modification in healthy individuals, however, eyeball tattoos are a recent fad. The first two eyeball tattoos as most people know them were done by two Canadian prison inmates. They were not trained professionals in any sense of the word- just two inmates playing around with a hypodermic needle full of tattoo ink. Do not trust them if you would like a similar mod done. 

Tattooing eyeballs a risky procedure, especially if it is not done by a trained professional. The eye has a lot of delicate little blood vessels that can burst if the needle is poked the wrong way. It's delicate territory. Eye tattoos are dangerous enough that the state of Oklahoma has outlawed them. How long do you want to bet that will last?


(When eyeball tattoos are outlawed, only outlaws will have eyeball tattoos. Easy way to pick 'em out.)

For those of us who are not hardcore enough to stick needles into our scleras, eye surgeons in the Netherlands have developed a way to insert platinum hearts and half-moons into patients' eyes. The procedure ranges anywhere from 500-1,000 euros. They claim that it is safe (in part because platinum is an inert metal as well as shiny), and, thus far, no side-effects have been found. British scientists disagree; they believe that, sooner or later, the eye is going to react to the foreign piece of metal. We're with them on this one. Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

This looks more than a little dangerous.

Tomorrow: Tentacles and bay-gulls? It can only be from Japan.

BodMod Week: Blacklight Tattoos.

We lied. This week is not completely unrelated to "Born This Way." Rick Genest (AKA Zombie Boy) up there is an example of extreme body modification; he is covered in skeletal and muscular tattoos from head to toe. He plans to do more where that came from, by the way.

Say, wouldn't it be cool if someone did a full-skeleton tattoo like that, only with glow in the dark ink? Y'know, so that they could go shopping without getting weird looks, but look like they were underneath an X-ray in the dark?

Well, at least one person did.

How did they do that?

This massive skeletal tattoo was done in blacklight ink. It does not technically glow in the dark. There is no safe "glow in the dark" ink and likely only one blacklight ink that has been certified safe by the FDA. Then again, the FDA lets Mickey D's through; how much you trust their judgment is entirely relative.

Smaller blacklight tatts have been done as well, looking just as impressive as their bigger counterparts. This sort of ink is great for doing hidden images like stars or simple accents on extant designs. The general idea is to have something that looks either invisible or okay under regular lighting, but REALLY stand out under UV light.



For the love of Pandora, why?

Things that glow in the dark, or at least under blacklight, are cool! Not everybody lives in the mesopelagic zone, AKA "that part of the ocean where everything glows in the dark." It's a pretty impressive effect on land. (Go click on the "bioluminescence" tag below to see more on that.)

Simple answer aside, mammals tend not to be very colorful animals. We, as mammals, have been cursed with a horrible, horrible pigment range. Pick your favorite domesticated mammal; chances are, every domesticated mammal out there can potentially have the exact same paint job. (The author cannot look at dogs the same way after clicking around in cow breed pages.) The mammal color range is sepia-tone, largely because mammals that see in full RGB color are few and far between.

This is a normal parakeet. Swear.

This is not true with the rest of nature. Some pigments on flowers and feathers can only be properly seen beneath a UV lamp. Birds see colors into the ultraviolet range, and insects have a different type of vision from humans entirely, allowing them to identify each other and potential food on completely different light wavelengths. Humans are missing out; with our limited vision, we can only see half of nature's acid trip. 

Think this is weird? Just wait. People do far weirder things with ink.



Tomorrow: Think tatts are cool? Imagine getting one in your eye.

BodMod Week.

Oh, how funny it is that the start of what should have been February's Theme Week is on the same day as Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" video. Alas, this particular theme deals with people who were, for whatever reason, not happy with being born the way they were, and go to extreme measures to change their physical appearances.

Why? Because there are some things that the human body just cannot do without excessive surgery, inks, or implants. We, as mammals, are severely inhibited in what pigments our bodies can produce; humans, despite all of our diversity, cannot grow claws, true fur, or any neat stripes. We have the thumbs and brain power to at least simulate some of the weirdest, most majestic things found in nature on our own bodies. It just takes guts and willpower to make them manifest!

 

This week covers seven of the weirdest things that normal people can do to their bodies. These are not sacred rites in which a boy scars himself in order to become a man; they are modifications done by people independently and of their own free will. If it's a rite of passage handed down from father to son, that's one thing; if someone just wants to look like Satan, that's another.

 

Let the completely intentional freak show commence! (Before you ask, no, I am not doing genital piercings.)