My Findings on Body Art and Modification

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?

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.

Many people like to wear cat head bands or elf ear headbands for fun. But what if there was a more permanent way to have pointed ears. Of course there is movie make up techniques one could use to achieve the pointed ear look, but this can be annoying and time consuming to apply. There are fake ears you can put over your own ears, but these could alter your hearing and be very uncomfortable. Then we come to the best way to get pointed ears, having your own ears modified with an ear point procedure.

Ear pointing is a somewhat simple body modification. It basically is just removing tissue from the tip of the ear and connecting the two edges with sutures. Some people attempt the procedure on their own but it is best to seek a professional. A bad ear pointing could lead to ear collapse. And, as with any botched job, infections.

Pointed ears are nothing new. Dennis Avner, most commonly known as “Stalking Cat,” has had his ears modified to look like that of a cat for some time now.

Fans of Star Trek will recognize this look from the Vulcans and Romulans. But, for the Vulcan and Romulan actors I’m quite sure it was just clever make up.

Magnets are now for more than your fridge or finding the paperclips around your office. They can now be placed under your skin to serve numerous functions. I myself found a little surprising but at the same time quite interesting.

These subdermal implants have been around in the dental and reconstructive surgery fields for a while but are still relatively new to the body mod world. Some early reports of magnetic implants came about in the early 1990’s but these implants where quite weak and could not do much. These were more experimental.

In recent years Steve Haworth and Jesse Jarrell have come up with more useful magnetic implants. These magnets have a gold plating and silicone casing to protect the skin. There are a few different kinds.

Sensory implants allow one to feel where there are electromagnetic fields. The magnet under one’s skin starts to move when in the presence of an electromagnetic field. This sixth sense has led people to say magnetic implants could be the first super hero modification.

Then there are sexual implants.  Small magnets are placed in the genital organs of each member of a couple. This creates enhanced sensation for the couple when the locations with magnets touch. The implant would also work for the lips of a couple and kissing.

Symbolic implants are similar to sexual implants but they are usually in the couples hands. This creates an actual physical bond when the two hold hands. This does not however make them get stuck together, the same goes for sexual implants.

Symbolic

Then there are magnetic implants designed to be purely functional. These implants are larger and stronger allowing them to be able pick things up with their implanted magnets. This person would never have trouble finding a paperclip in a desk drawer.

Even the more modern implants do have their downsides of course. But this is true of all body modifications. The silicone casing has been known to rupture in quite a few cases allowing the body to be exposed to the metals and material of the implant.

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