What's normal to one person may be strange to another, but most people agree that extreme modification is exactly that - extreme.
Implants
Breast enhancement is a form of body modification, but they don't qualify as extreme (most of the time). Adding horns, ridges, and other "unnatural" lumps and bulges normally counts as extreme, but they're hard to find and get done.
Cutting and Branding
Cutting and branding are more unusual than some body modifications, but they can be found at more tattoo parlors than some of the more extreme modifications.
Tongue Modification
A body modification that's growing in popularity is tongue splitting. In tongue splitting, the tongue is surgically split, creating a forked tongue, similar in appearance to a lizard.
Suspension
In suspension, hooks are embedded into the skin, then the hooks are used to hang the person either from the ceiling or another source. The severity of the suspension can vary in several possible ways - the number of hooks and the amount of time hanging.
Piercing
Piercing isn't always considered extreme - nowadays it's not unusual to see both men and women with multiple piercing in their ears. So when does it become extreme? Sometimes it's the number, sometimes it's the placement, and sometimes it's in the size. Plugging is a method of stretching the earlobe. Generally, you start with a small plug and build up as the earlobe stretches around it.Of course, you can also be extreme in your choices. While belly buttons, tongues, and noses might once have been considered extreme, they're now commonplace. So if you want to go for the gusto, you'll need to be more creative. Some options include facial surface piercing, body surface piercing, neck and nape piercing, eyelid piercing, hand piercing, and even uvula piercing. Genital piercing can also be extreme in some cases.
Tattooing
Tattooing can be an extreme body modification. Tattoo sleeves used to be considered extreme, but as tattooing has gotten more common and popular, tattoo sleeves have lost their extreme edge. Now a simple sleeve doesn't do it anymore. To be truly unique, tattooing has to go further. But just how far can it go?
Total Body Modification
Some people combine different types of body modification to create their own looks. Check out the information on Katzen to learn more. The looks can be meant to recreate an animal, like Lizardman and Stalking Cat, or they can be meant to recreate a thing, like the Human Enigma and his blue puzzle. While psychologists speculate that this type of extreme body modification may be linked to body dysmorphic disorder, the people who love their changes feel they're just helping putting things right.
Getting Extreme Body Modification
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your position, some extreme body modification is hard to come by. There are laws, both at the state and federal level, that control how far from "normal" a person may alter their appearance. The person can't be charged, but the doctor performing the surgery can get in trouble for their part in the surgery. So where can you get modification done?
ModCon
You can't be into extreme body modification without knowing about ModCon. ModCon is a semi-annual extreme body modification convention. ModCon has speakers, demonstrations, and even training for practitioners. The convention is more than just looking, though - most ModCons have body modification artists, doctors, and surgical suites standing by. Some procedures that can be done on property include scrotal splitting, relocations, genital reshaping, digit removal, implants, silicone injections, sculpting, trepanation, and other cosmetic surgery procedures. ModCons are normally not held in the United States, and in order to attend a ModCon, you must apply and be accepted for attendance before you will be told where and when the convention occurs.
Don't think you'll attend a ModCon, but you still want to know about it? Check out ModCon: The Secret World of Extreme Body Modification. The book chronicles ModCon 1999, showing pictures and giving information about procedures that many people have never even heard of, much less seen.
