With any modification to one’s body there are risks involved. But besides the physical ones such as infection or rejection there are others which we usually overlook, such as divorce, bra straps, and psychiatric commitment, among others. The BME encyclopedia risks site has information on almost all of them.

For divorce one man talks about losing a custody battle for a few mod related reasons. The judge deemed him unfit for full custody  after hearing about his voluntary castration thinking that his wife had made him do it and that made him weak. Also, his wife had a shrink tell the court he forced her to get body piercings. Just another thing to keep in mind during a divorce.

Some people may think of you as certifiably insane after an extreme body modification. Then they just may have you hauled in for psych evals up the ying  yang. But chances are they won’t find anything and you’ll be free in 72 hours.

In the bra strap category they warn people about bra straps snagging on new tattoos or piercing and suggest going braless or wearing some sort of padding or cushion under the strap until healing is complete. They also advise to be careful of children around any modifications they can pull on or grab at such as stretched ears or transdermal implants.

For more risks click here

There are people in this world who have heavily modified themselves and usually are known to the public for just that, such as Cat Man or as he calls himself Stalking Cat. But he is not alone in being heavily modified. The Enigma, whose real name is Paul Lawrence, does more than just make appearances as a modified person. He is also a musician and actor.

He is fully tattooed with puzzle pieces and has multiple body piercings, reshaped ears, and subdermal horn implants. He has been involved with music since his childhood in Seattle, WA.  He composes, sings and plays many instruments including piano, guitar, and flute. He is also a sword swallower, author, producer and director among other things.

Enigma has also made appearances on the X Files, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, and many other things. He was a founding member of the Lollapalooza sideshow. His music can be found on soundtracks for movies like Firecrackers and PUNKS.

The Enigma performs at the Electric Acid Theater and can be found at his website.

Body Modifications are always surprising. There does not seem to be a limit to what people will try to do. If you can think it, someone, somewhere will probably be willing to try to find a way to make it possible.

Eyebrow removal is nothing new, even the complete  brow removal,  like that seen on actress Whoopi Goldberg, is nothing really new. But what about a removal of the brow so the hair will not grow back, and I am not talking about electrolysis.

A free hand piercer in California had their entire eyebrow, including the skin underneath removed. It was done by his boss who was nervous at first and would not agree to the procedure until talking with the founder of all that is modern modification of the body, Steve Haworth.

The man who had it done is planning to remove his other eyebrow as well.

Would any of you have this done?

I found this list (below) recently of what someone considers to be the 10 most bizarre body mods. I think this person is a bit sheltered, or maybe I’ve been writing about this stuff to long.

Here is the original list from Listverse

I will rewrite it here so there is no copyright infringement, and also give my thoughts.

10. Branding,

I guess it is a bit out of the ordinary, but people get laser heat treatments all the time, a hot iron or laser to the skin to leave a mark is no different from getting laser removal.

9. Subdermal Implants,

Ok, this I can understand how some people might consider it to be a little odd because it is not seen as often, but its pretty much the same as breast implants, the same materials are used.

8. Ear Lobe Stretching

Now this surprises me, they consider earlobe stretching which I see in public all the time to be more bizarre than subdermal implants or branding. It is a common practice that can be seen almost anywhere.

7.Tongue Splitting

Now this I consider list worthy. It is not something seen every day.

6.  Teeth Filing

This is something I have seen around a bit, mostly with television characters, especially on the show Bones.

5. Tight Lacing, better known as Corseting

They refer to the practice of wearing a corset, not the corset piercings. It has been around for ages and in my opinion, is much less bizarre than tongue splitting or teeth filing.

4. Pearling (A genital beading that increases sexual pleasure for a partner)

Ok, now that is not something you see everyday and is actually bizarre

3. Corneal tattooing (tattoo on the white of the eye)

I would call this sort of bizarre, but I would not consider it top ten worthy.

2. Anal Stretching

Ok now that is bizarre, but I do not agree with the rating, maybe it would be better at 9 or 10.

1. Extra Ocular implants (a tiny silver implant in a certain shape that goes on the white of the eye.

Now this, while weird, is definitely not worthy of the number one spot.  Genital beading or tongue splitting should be number one. But I did not make this list.

Tattoos are always thought as something we see. This has excluded blind people from experiencing tattoos as we do. But things have changed. Now more than just the visual sense can be used to experience a tattoo.

Braille tattoos are not so much tattoos in the definition that normally comes to mind. Instead of ink being used tiny metal implants  under the skin to raise it up and is spaced just right to be understood byanyone that can understand braille letters. There are also inked braille tattoos but they are not functional, and only mean something for those who understand braille but are able to see the dots.

Since it is a series of implants it is not technically a tattoo but that is not the point. I have always thought the worst part of being blind would be losing the ability to see my tattoos. I think of them as the one thing people can’t take from me. These implants give someone who cannot see

the chance to have something they can understand on their skin, even if the rest of us don’t know what it means it is still spectacular for that person.  The tattoo  experience is indescribable.

The implants are said not to last long and have to be fixed over time due to migration. But all tattoos fade at some point and could use a touch up. Like the tattoos people get on the inside of the lip that only last a few years at best unless they are redone  multiple times.

Foot binding is an ancient Chinese tradition in which the feet of young girls would be bound to make the feet appear small and attractive. It was practiced between the tenth and twentieth centuries.

The painful process would begin before feet grew too much and would be performed on girls aged three to eleven. The feet would first be soaked in a bath of animal blood and herbs to soften the feet and was followed by a foot massage. Then the nails were

a normal foot compared to a bound foot

cut back as far as possible. Then bandages, which had also been soaked in the blood and herb mixture, were wrapped around the feet tightly in a figure eight pattern. The bandages were wrapped tight enough to cause the toes to break.  Bandages were unbound then rebound to ensure the health of the feet. Then the feet were rebound even tighter by a professional foot binder. No pain relief was ever given during the process.

The most common risk of foot binding was infection, especially from the toenails which were likely to become ingrown during binding.

Bound feet were considered to be very erotic by the Chinese. Sex manuals had many ways to incorporate bound feet into lovemaking. Some men preferred the women to keep the bindings on their feet and never to the see naked feet. Also, the feet slightly restricted a women’s ability and would keep women from doing men’s work such as politics.

Birthdays are awesome days for getting new tattoos. I, like many young people do, celebrated my eighteenth birthday with a tattoo a few years ago. I also celebrated my last day of high school with a second tattoo a few months later, but that isn’t the point.

What is the point? That birthdays are one of the best days to get tattoos. I am hoping to receive enough money for a new tattoo or something cool like that, but tattoos cost money and I do not want to get my hopes up. But I have rounded up some spectacular tattoo, piercing, and body mod pics for you all.

Is this picture of a pierced fish an example of animal cruelty? Is it really obscene and horrible to the animal, because they cannot speak up and refuse to be pierced from their owner?

Is piercing a fish any different from when a farm animal has a tag pierced through their ear, like this cow? Also, is it worse than cropping pet’ ears, removing its dew claw, or neutering it?

Piercing a fish seems just about the same, if not better than, some of those animal modifications.

The modern hardcore body modification scene did not just start by itself. It took dedicated people trying new ideas and techniques until they got things to where they are now. Steve Haworth is said to be responsible for most modern, hardcore body modifications.

Steve Haworth is the founder of subdermal implants, transdermal implants, laser branding, and many other things. He is a former piercer but according to his website his current occupation is 3D Body Modification and Human Evolution Artist. He has also done wonderful work with things like suspension, surface bars, and ear shaping.

Haworth owns Haworth Tech Companies (HTC Studios), Kaos Software (silicone body jewelry manufacturing), and New Hole (piercing products). He is the Co- Founder of Horns and Halos (they put on the Phoenix Fetish Ball), and Life Suspended (a group that performs Suspensions).

Steve lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his partner, Cookie

I decided to make a post for a little entertainment during this holiday season. I even found a Jewish tattoo, but only one good one. If anyone has anymore holiday themed tattoos, piercings, or other body modification pictures post them as a comment or email them to me and I will post them in follow ups. Also, if there are no pictures just describe it. Don’t hesitate to send stuff from holidays like Easter, or Halloween, or even Arbor Day. I will use all  I receive no matter what holiday they come from.

Remember, National Piercing Day is on May 16,  so if you want a cool piercing, save some Christmas or Hanukkah, or even Kwanzaa money for a cool,  new piercing.