What does body modification include?

I was conducting an interview on my friend for this project when she asked, “What all does body modification include?” I got to thinking about it and I only knew of the basics: tattoos, ear piercing, tanning, etc. But what about all of those other extreme things I see in our society? What are they called and what makes people want to do it?

I have no tattoos and I rarely take part in body modification actions. I have both of my ears pierced once and I go to the tanning bed just to get a base tan before the summer. I whiten my teeth every other year and I wear a minimal amount of make-up every day. I do not have much knowledge about body modification and frankly, some of it, for a better lack of words, freaks me out. I have seen people hang padlocks from their ears, stick tooth pics through their noses and have even watch a guy get branded. Is it because of attention? I, for one, think some of it is gross and I can hardly stand to look at it. But, for others, it is the thrill the adrenalin rush and the “high” one gets from the procedure. Some simply enjoy bragging to their friends and watching the squeamish (like me!) turn away.

Not all body modifications are extreme. Some people only want one or two tattoos and a few piercing, where others want to be tattooed all over. This post is showing the more extreme (for me, this is very extreme!) sides of body modification. First of all, here is a list, compliments of Wikipedia, of several examples and descriptions of body modification. Following the list are pictures of a few of the examples I found to show people with their extremely modified bodies.


1. Body piercing: practice of puncturing or cutting a part of the human body, creating an opening in which jewelry may be worn; sometimes further modified by stretching
2. Ear piercing: the most common type of body modification
3. Pearling: genital beading
4. Neck ring: multiple neck rings are worn to stretch the neck; common in African Tribes
5. Scrotal implants: beads or objects implanted inside the scrotum, typically either to replace missing testicles, or to enhance the appearance of the scrotum
6. Eyeball tattooing: njection of a pigment into the cornea
7. Extraocular implant: the implantation of jewelry in the outer layer of the eye
8. Surface Piercing: a surface piercing is a piercing where the entrance and exit holes are pierced through the same flat area of skin
9. Microdermal implants: are a form of body modification which gives the aesthetic appearance of a transdermal implant, but without the complications of the much more complicated surgery associated with transdermal implants
10. Transdermal implant: implantation of an object below the dermis, but which exits the skin at one or more points
11. Breast implants: insertion of silicone bags filled with silicone gel or saline solution into the breasts to increase their size, or to restore a more normal appearance after surgery
12. Silicone injection (illegal in the US): injections of silicone into the body, and in this context generally) to the male genitalia
13. Subdermal implant: implantation of an object that resides entirely below the dermis
14. Hair cutting: grooming hair to prevent dead ends and increase health
15. Hair removal: lasar hair removal is most common; permanently removing unwanted hair
16. Male circumcision: the partial or full removal of the foreskin
17. Female genital cutting: removal of the labia minora or the clitoral hood
18. Frenectomy: to remove a section of tissue (the frenulum) that attached to the gingival tissue between two teeth
19. Genital bisection: splitting of both the underside and the top of the penis
20. Meatotomy: splitting of the underside of the glans penis
21. Headsplitting: splitting of both the underside and the top of the glans penis
22. Nipple removal: removing the nipples
23. Nipple splitting: splitting open either one or two nipples
24. Subincision: splitting of the underside of the penis
25. Tongue splitting: bisection of the tongue similar to a snake's
26. Trepanation: drilling a hole into the skull
27. Corsetry or tightlacing: binding of the waist and shaping of the torso
28. Cranial binding: modification of the shape of infants' heads, now extremely rare
29. Breast ironing: pressing (sometimes with a heated object) the breasts of a pubescent female to prevent their growth
30. Foot binding: compression of the feet of girls to modify them for aesthetic reasons
31. Anal stretching: Like stretching a piercing, it involves slow process over an extended period of time
32. Branding: controlled burning or cauterizing of tissue to encourage intentional scarring
33. Ear shaping: modifying the shape of one’s ear (which includes ear cropping, ear pointing or "elfing”)
34. Scarification: cutting or removal of dermis with the intent to encourage intentional scarring
35. Tooth filing: to file teeth to make them shape and pointy.
36. Teeth whitening: placing chemicals on our teeth to remove any stains and make them a brighter white.
37. Tanning: going to a tanning bed or lying out in the sun to make one’s skin darker.


References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_modification, http://dictionary.reference.com/, http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/, http://urbantitan.com/10-most-bizarre-body-modifications/, http://www.sodahead.com/living/extreme-body-modification-how-much-is-too-much/question-1118889/, http://sweettaterblog.com/category/news/health/