Split tongues, implants take body art to extreme

updated 6:02 p.m. ET Aug. 4, 2006

Allen Falkner’s tongue is just one of his unusual features.

It is split down the middle, and when he sticks it out, it looks like a two-pronged snake tongue.

The alteration — along with others — to the 36-year-old Dallas man’s body might appear shocking, but they’re standard for people in the underground activity known as body modification. It’s a trend that has been growing steadily for about a decade, attracting more followers now that tattoos and simple piercings are more mainstream.

“I think there’s definitely more and more interest all the time,” said Falkner, owner of a Dallas tattoo and piercing shop called Obscurities.

Extreme body modification features a wide range of alterations, including some that are illegal in Texas and elsewhere. Some people get horns implanted on their heads. Some install magnets in their hands, creating a “sixth sense” for feeling magnetic fields. Others remold their ears to make them pointy.

“People want, I think in general with society — especially the younger sect — to be different,” said Luis Garcia, international liaison for the Association of Professional Piercers, which takes no official stance on the modifications. “It’s not different anymore to have your navel pierced.”

Falkner did his work himself, experimenting with various methods and instruments that included scalpels and string. Already sporting multiple tattoos and piercings, he said he further modified his body for aesthetic reasons, and in part just to see if he could.

Falkner runs several Web sites dedicated to the topics and said he gets e-mails all the time from people interested in modifying themselves. Likewise, Garcia said people often ask for implants, split tongues, scarring or other procedures at his shop in Philadelphia.

With television shows profiling tattoo shops and increasing numbers of piercings in the mainstream, more people are searching for procedures for the “one-upping factor,” Garcia said.

Implants go underground
“I’ve had people as young as 15 inquire,” Garcia said, noting that he won’t accommodate their requests for legal reasons.

And neither will most established tattoo and piercing shops. Extreme modifications are banned in a handful of states, including Texas and Delaware, which specifically prohibit tongue splitting. But similar procedures usually fall under a legislative gray area. Many artists also won’t do them for fear of lawsuits or insurance fiascos, Garcia said.

“It’s definitely underground,” he said. “Any person that does implants out of their shop is taking a big risk.”

Scarring to splitting Common terms in body modification: — Transdermal implants: Implants that begin beneath the skin but protrude outside, such as metal spikes or beads. — Subdermal implants: Implants that are completely covered by skin, such as inserted bone plates or forehead horns. — Scarification: The process of cutting or removing skin — whether through chemicals, instruments or otherwise — to permanently scar designs onto the body. — Tongue splitting: The process of dividing the tongue down the middle into two sections that can be independently manipulated at will. The muscle can be cut through various methods, such as with a scalpel, string or burning tool. — Surface piercing: A piercing done on a flat area of skin, such as the chin or neck. — Tooth filing: The reshaping of teeth through the removal of part of the dental surface. — Ear pointing: The creation of “elf”-like ears through removing tissue from the top tip of the organ and suturing the two ends together. — Suspension: A ritual in which practitioners fasten hooks to piercings, usually in the back, legs or torso, and hang from ropes or chains that are attached to a ceiling or other surface. Suspensions can last for minutes or hours. Source: AP

He cited health consequences as the main hurdle to widespread practice. Garcia had his transdermal chest implants — a type of implant anchored under the skin but protruding outside — removed after a few years. He got “a couple of infections that were an annoyance and just a constant irritation,” he said.

Falkner also removed some implants from his wrist because they constantly banged against things or got in the way.

Doug McBride, spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said underground and non-professional alterations could end in problems.

“If this is being done by unqualified people using equipment and facilities that are not sanitized or sterile, then you’re going to have that increased risk of infection,” he said.

Bill Johnson, secretary of the Alliance of Professional Tattooists, agreed that more extreme and experimental modifications are probably not the best idea.

“My personal view is, it’s just too dangerous,” said Johnson, whose group officially takes no position on the practice.

Many modification enthusiasts don’t consider all the health ramifications, experts said. Garcia tells interested people to “think about it — because when they do need to come out, it’s not as easy as putting them in.”

But many modifiers say they don’t think health or legal hurdles will curb the trend. They said the drive to be different and creative will keep pushing people to embrace more extreme modification.

“It’s evolving to the point where sometimes I kind of scare myself at thinking what will be next,” Garcia said.

MORE FROM MORE HEALTH NEWS

More Health News Section Front

Body Odd: Surviving a hole in the head Oxygen may relieve migraines, headaches Protecting the brain from spiral of damage Scientists find key brain circuits for attention Safer, easier blood thinners in late-stage testing Ravers lose vision at laser light show Docs pull screws, nails from metal-eating man USDA to name retailers during meat recalls Popular domestic caviar raises health concerns Teen with upside-down feet takes first steps More Health News Section Front   Add More Health News headlines to your news reader: