• 

  These patterns were cut into the skin of Hong's lower leg.

Enlarge

SINGAPORE: Cutting patterns into bodies, peeling away bloody strips of skin, implanting beads under the epidermis, splitting tongues into half… this isn't some gruesome recounting of horrible torture techniques, but a sampling of some of the extreme body modifications that young Singaporeans are undergoing in their pursuit of beauty and excitement.

Tattoos and piercings are a thing of the past, an extreme body modification method known as scarification has been gradually gaining popularity in the Lion City.

A Pattern of Scars

This form of body modification first appeared in South America, Britain and the United States, causing a stir.

Scarification refers to the process of cutting out patterns in a persons skin, allowing the scars to form a complicated diagram.

Others have beads implanted beneath their skin, causing bumps and bulges to form in a row on their arms.

19 year old Pan Jiaying chose to have her tongue bifurcated (split in two). She is happy with the result, saying that she is "happy with the way it looks and how it feels".

4 Hours to Cut 7 Stars

In a four hour operation without any anaesthetic, another 20 year old female student had seven stars carved into the skin of her lower leg. During the operation, the scars bled profusely, and she nearly fainted from the pain!

Hong, who is a student at Lasalle-SIA College of the Arts, said that the artist first used a knife to carve the outlines of the patterns onto her skin. Next, he gripped the skin inside the outline, raised it, and cut it away inch-by-inch. The whole process was done without any anaesthetic being applied, and Hong bled a lot while it was being done.

As for Huang, who had beads implanted underneath the skin of his arm, some people thought that he had some kind of disease, or had been in some unfortunate accident.

Huang said that the "odd pattern" on his arm had drawn many weird looks.

"Some people wonder, 'does this man have some kind of disease, or was he in some sort of accident?'"

It's All in the Name of Art

Despite this, those who practice extreme body modification say that they are not just following a trend or performing self-mutilation, but are instead creating a lasting artform.

One of these practitioners, Chen, 22, said that: "We aren't trying to get a thrill from the pain, and we don't have worries or troubles. We are quite happy as we do what we do."

Doctors: Skin May become Infected

Doctors warn that extreme body modifications which are not carried out properly can be dangerous, causing infection, inflammation or even permanent damage.

For instance, if the person trying to create a pattern using the scarification technique isn't experienced, it may cause serious damage to the body.

A skin specialist said that the body modification process needed to prevent rot from setting in, and the tools used also needed to be thoroughly sterilized.

Cosmetic surgeons also said that the greatest risks with extreme body modifications are infection and keloids (tissue overgrowths).

Doctors indicated that after a body has been carved and cut, costly and complicated cosmetic surgery is required to make it look the way it used to. Because of that, people should think twice before deciding to undertake any kind of extreme body modification.