I think anyone who wants this should undergo psychological evaluation to explain such a strong drive to stand-out from the norm, and I consider myself a fairly open minded individual.
But doctors say subdermal implants, like the ridges above his eyes, can be risky business. Anytime the skin is opened up, he tells CBS News, there is the potential for infection - and the risk is heightened when a permanent foreign object is introduced.
Nevertheless, we encourage our results to be viewed critically. Since the study was an online survey, the possibility of survey fraud, influencing external factors, motivation, circadian timing, or the influencing environment could not be ruled out [ 66 ]. Nevertheless, it could have increased the feeling of anonymity and reduced social desirability bias [ 67 ], counteracting the Rosenthal effect [ 68 , 69 ], and the standardization could have ensured a high degree of objectivity, as both the survey and the evaluation were computer-based [ 67 ].
Likewise, familiarity with the diagnostic tool cannot be ruled out [ 67 ]. We also noted that, although only individuals residing in Germany at the time of the survey participated in the study, the possibility that they had been previously socialized in other countries cannot be excluded.
It is not clear whether they had undertaken the body modifications in Germany. For the German-speaking sample in the present study, we used the German version of the Uniqueness scale, the NfU-G [ 49 ], and further examined extreme body modifications. To the best of our knowledge, most previous studies used the Uniqueness Scale developed by Snyder and Fromkin [ 38 ] for their non-German samples [ 15 , 19 , 20 , 42 , 43 ], the four-item SANU scale developed by Lynn and Harris [ 45 , 46 , 70 , 71 ], or an interpretative phenomenological analysis following a semi-structured interview [ 44 ].
Previous studies did not include extreme body modifications, nor did they split NfU into its subcomponents. Albeit considering NfU as a motivation for modification of the body and not vice versa is evident, a cross-sectional study design cannot determine whether NfU precedes the body modification or is its consequence. However, the causality is theoretically well-founded and can, therefore, be assumed in this study.
All of these issues result in possible desiderata for further research. A longitudinal study design could provide more information. Moreover, of major interest would be to investigate, if possible, the NfU of tattooed or pierced, or extreme-body-modified individuals in a comparative analysis. In other words, individuals having only one of the features should be investigated.
Despite these apparent limitations, this study has provided an understanding of apparent differences in the subcomponents of NfU for modifying the body. The research questions that were initially formulated could be answered: Tattooed, pierced, and extreme-body-modified individuals showed a greater manifestation of NfU than individuals without body modifications.
The study also showed that the number of body modifications increased depending on the extent of the expression of NfU. The results support the assumption that body modifications can be exploited to create self-expression or construct identities. Therefore, body modifications can be an essential medium for developing unique identities by means of physical appearance.
We are grateful to Merrie Bergmann for copyediting a previous version, Hazel Scott, for copyediting the current version of our manuscript, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on this manuscript. Browse Subject Areas? Click through the PLOS taxonomy to find articles in your field.
Abstract Do individuals modify their bodies in order to be unique? Funding: The author s received no specific funding for this work. Introduction Body modifications of all kinds, especially tattoos and piercings, are no longer a rare phenomenon. Download: PPT. Table 1. Tattooed and non-tattooed group comparison using unpaired t- test.
Table 2. Pierced and non-pierced group comparison using unpaired t- test. Table 3. Extreme-body-modified and non-extreme-body-modified group comparison using unpaired t- test. Supporting information. S1 Table. S1 Forums. List of forums and social media feeds focusing on body modifications used for data collection.
S1 File. Acknowledgments We are grateful to Merrie Bergmann for copyediting a previous version, Hazel Scott, for copyediting the current version of our manuscript, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on this manuscript. References 1. Anderson R. Tattooing should be regulated. New England Journal of Medicine. Armstrong ML. Career-oriented women with tattoos. Image: the Journal of Nursing Scholarship.
Tattooing in adolescents, more common than you think: the phenomenon and risks. Journal of School Nursing. Contemporary college students and body piercing. Journal of Adolescent Health. DeMello M. The Journal of Popular Culture. View Article Google Scholar 8. DeMello M, Rubin G. Bodies of inscription. Durham: Duke University Press; Swami V, Harris AS. Body art tattoos and piercings.
In: Cash T, editor. Encyclopedia of Human Appearance and Body Image. Elsevier; Gump W. Modern induced skull deformity in adults. Neurosurgical Focus. Kasten E, Wessel A. Body Modification. MWV; Body piercing in England: a survey of piercing at sites other than earlobe.
Risks and health effects from tattoos, body piercing and related practices. Piercing Siegmund-Schultze N. Want to fork your tongue? Take a swig of whiskey, apply some ice, and try to stay still while the body modification artist slices it in half. More Videos RidicuList: Bagel-shaped foreheads Although I've never been asked to fix or treat a split tongue, there is one body modification trend I've been asked very commonly to repair: gauge earrings.
These are circular earrings that function to gradually dilate an ear piercing, often to massive size. People with gauge earrings may believe their earlobes look stylish when the earrings are in place, but they look like limp noodles when the jewelry is removed.
Most of my patients who've undergone repair of their stretched earlobes have had it done to improve their job prospects -- what works for an interview at a tattoo parlor may not be appropriate when applying for a managerial position. Apart from its effect on professional prospects, can extreme body modification be a sign of underlying psychiatric issues? One of the most famous body modification subjects, Dennis Avner, spent years making himself look like a cat.
He went so far as to have whiskers implanted into his cheeks and his teeth filed into fangs. About a year ago, he died of an apparent suicide. Some have speculated that Avner may have suffered from body dysmorphic disorder, a psychiatric condition involving a person's self-image.
It has a very high rate of suicidal ideation. As extreme as it sounds, tongue splitting is just one of dozens of types of body modification practised in the west today. Think of any part of the human body that can be stretched, pierced, mutilated or removed altogether, and someone, somewhere has done it.
Last year Shannon Larratt, founder and editor of the respected online fanzine BMEzine, posted an exhaustive questionnaire about body modification on a members-only section.
Of more than people who responded, most were only pierced or tattooed, but of the respondents reported having had some form of heavy modification. The most common heavy mods revealed in the survey were genital modifications ranging from circumcision — female as well as male — to scrotal and labial stretching, glans splitting and relocation of the urethra.
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