23 January 2010

Lip window


This is certainly a remarkable body modification (click to enlarge photo).

I couldn't bring myself to track down the backstory at the sites watermarked on the photo, but as best I can tell from reading the discussion thread at Reddit, this is a Pyrex plug; presumably refraction of transmitted light explains the visualization of both top and bottom teeth through the plug.

Update:  While I was writing this post, I kept thinking that this modification reminded me of something, but I couldn't remember what it was.  Last night it came to me - the "Futches Reich" postal forgery produced during WWII for Operation Cornflakes (third stamp below, click to enlarge):
Some people refer to it as the "Hitler zombie" stamp.  Philatelists will already be familiar with it; others interested in reading about it should go to this outstanding website on propaganda and espionage philately.

28 comments:

  1. Congratulations, young man: After many hours of careful work, you've now rendered yourself into something so awful that the homeless will now give _you_ money just to go away.

    Stand tall.

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  2. I hope that person studiously avoids gingivitis...

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  3. Attention aspiring surgeons... there will be thousands of people in a few years that desperately want their lips, ears, noses, etc. repaired because of their youthful indiscretions.

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  4. Wait that is a guy???

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  5. Refraction of light? Do me a favor. Close your mouth all the way, so that your teeth are touching. Now gently press on your lower lip and you'll feel that it actually does cover the bottom edge of your upper teeth. The plug is also clearly stretching the (wo?)man's lip even further upward. There's no refraction needed to see the upper teeth through the lower lip.

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  8. Daaaarrrrrwwwiiiiiiinnn! Retard!

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  9. Goodness. That's quite a lot of dedication to a lifestyle.

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  11. SOMEONE TELL ME THAT THIS IS SHOPPED, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!

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  12. must be really nice to watch this person eat. *hawaaRF!

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  13. it is a man, i am pretty sure i am seeing an adam's apple down there. I just don't know what happens when these people eat/drink. There may or may not be a large gaping whole that could allow for some food falling out.

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  14. Really hoping that's photoshopped. . .

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  15. why can't we see the metal rim of the plug inside as well?

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  16. There is no metal ring, it's a pyrex plug... they're usually tapered to be narrower in the middle to hold them in place.

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  17. I really enjoy this blog, but I could have lived happily without ever seeing this post.

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  18. Well... they must have seriously wanted every human to run in terror. Or they truly despise kissing. Problem solved I guess. Good luck getting a job.

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  19. All the "good luck getting a job" comments are pretty tiring. I have a stretched labret piercing (smaller than the one presented here), stretched ear lobes, visible tattoos on my arms and hold down a really really well paying job working in the telecommunications industry for a prominent provider and never once has my appearance caused any sort of negative issue to arise. If you're smart and work hard at what you do most people could not care less what you look like. I always remember Alvar Saenz-Otero when I hear people downgrade those with visible modifications. He has numerous highly visible facial percings and is a lead scientist in the MIT Space Systems laboratory.

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  20. Jes, I've been removing some of the particularly offensive comments. It's curious how vehemently some people react to whatever they perceive as different.

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  21. It's photoshopped. Teeth and gumline are too low.

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  22. Jes, they may not say anything to your face... but rest assured, they're all laughing at you behind your back :P

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  23. I think it's a fake.
    look the distance between the upper teeth and the nose : it's too large.

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  24. This is really awful. Where's its mother?

    Potential infections, potential dental bills. Call children's aid.

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  25. It looks like it is in fact positioned correctly to show the upper teeth and the bottom teeth and gums.

    Personally, I wouldn't do it. I am have two holes in each ear for earrings (pierced), but the holes are so minute that I can barely see them to put my earrings in.

    I wouldn't put myself up for something that extreme. Two holes in each ear is my limit.

    What other strange body modification is next. They have created a Cat Man and other people treating their body like canvas.

    I have nothing against people being different, but something like this is really disconcerting. Are they going to install a window in a persons stomach to make it easier for doctors to look at their guts, or any other part of the body. Lord forbid that they do. Everybody's internal organs on display-yuk. Hence, I think we are only seeing the beginning of some weird and extreme surgery

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  26. One reason to do that to the mouth and no where else on the body is that saliva will naturally keep the piercing more free from infection than any other part of the body. I have a very small labret piercing (middle of my lower lip) that is perched just under the ledge my lip makes. I've had it for twelve years now, it has never hindered me getting or keeping a job. I have a wonderful job in medical research. I don't personally feel the need for extreme body modification, but I respect a persons rights to do it. I doubt any of you savagely object to women getting breast implants; which have a much higher risk of infection to the body, chance of rejection, are linked to increased susceptibility to sepsis, can mask breast tumors on mammography, and can cause a woman to lose function of her mammary glands, as well as nerve damage.

    Compare that to something that can some day be covered with a relatively simple stitching job...

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