Pain, Price & Reason

"When it comes to your own body, How could you consider anything other than the premium option?" *quote- Jol Agni, Hand-Poke Tattoo Artist & Head Body Piercer at Trademark Ink, Cairns, Australia*

When an uninformed/unmodified person meets someone with extreme body modifications, Three questions surface frequently.
1- Was the modification procedure painful?
2- Is the modification procedure expensive?
3- Why did you decide to get the modification?
This is can be narrowed down to Pain, Price & Reason. For the most part, when an uninformed person asks these questions, it shows they have a genuine interest and willingness to understand body modifications and the people that have them.

Pain is variable depending on the modification procedure being performed but it is fair to say that at the extreme end of modification, there is always some level of pain involved. Furthermore; person to person, individual tolerances to pain vary greatly. There is also the healing period of said modification which can have its own separate levels of pain involved. Pain can be considered part of the Price but also can be synonymous with the Reason for some. For others it is fair to say that the pain doesn't really matter, it's just something that has to be endured to achieve the end result. Ultimately, most good things in life aren't acquired without some level of discomfort.

Price is something that can vary greatly for many reasons like any commodity. The most important aspects to consider are the quality/demand of the work performed and the experience/skill of the artist performing it. With that in mind, the majority of diligent body modification customers aren't looking for a "cheap price" as it will usually correlate with "cheap work". "When it comes to your own body, How could you consider anything other than the premium option?" *quote- Jol Agni, Hand-Poke Tattoo Artist & Head Body Piercer at Trademark Ink, Cairns, Australia*. Jol makes a spearhead point regarding price, this isn't a car or a motorcycle you are about to modify, it's your body which cannot be replaced. Bad/unwanted work can usually be fixed/undone but this is a road no-one wants to go down. After finding an artist you are happy with, being a loyal customer and developing a rapport is the best way for you to get better prices in the future. Meeting an artist for the first time and haggling with their price can be considered insulting. This is the wrong foot to get off on with an artist whose services you require. After all, you want your artist motivated don't you?

There are many reasons an individual will decide to get modified. Image is the most obvious, but their are plenty of other reasons too. Sexual enhancement is a common motivation for body modification and usually involves but is not limited to the genitals. Piercings, implants and incisions are common forms of modification for sexual enhancement. Spirituality & Religion is another common reason for body modification. An example of this is the Jewish Bris ceremony (foreskin removal), Remembrance is a popular motivator, people often get tattoos of loved ones in pictures or script. Old Sailors had a tradition of piercing their nipple and adding links each time they crossed the equator. Medical Reasons can arise too, A cochlear implant is an electronic device that replaces the function of the damaged inner ear. An arising trend is trans-humanism or human ascension which is basically defined as acquiring body functions that aren't the nature of a human being thus ascending/transcending what it is to be human. Some good examples of this are the magnetic implant and the RFID (remote frequency identification) chip implant which both serve to give functions a normal human being does not have. Admittedly these are minor functions but there are more extreme cases of this happening everyday. Who knows what the future holds...

Stigma & Stereotypes

There is a common misconception out there that people with tattoos/body modification are criminals. Whilst it is true that criminals often sport gang affiliation tattoos, it is a very small percentage of the tattoo community that is often misrepresented through media and Hollywood. The vast majority of us are law abiding citizens that often rise above and beyond the call of fellow man because we are easily noticed and remembered.

A criminal doesn't really want to stand out in a crowd for the most part. It would be like wearing flashing lights and a siren whilst trying to rob a bank, it is counterproductive. Criminals are often trusted, respected and in positions of power and authority. So you can thank Hollywood and mob mentality for this stereotype, Just think of Shows like Breaking bad for example. Not all criminals are tattooed jailbirds, In fact the worst criminals are probably clean skin well groomed people teaching your children at school or church, Perhaps a Medical surgeon that has a prescription drug dependency, Lets not forget about crimes committed by Politicians and people in positions of power.

The fact of the matter is anyone can commit crime or have a drug addiction, Just like anyone can wear a pinstripe suit or get tattoos. So lets all try and delete this stigma from our minds, For the most part in my own personal experience, the talented artists, intelligent philosophers and people with a true insight into the human condition are all heavily modified people. The people I find hard to relate to are clean shaven men wearing suits talking about the price of Chinese eggs in South Korea and how it affects us abroad.

The Reality - Left to Right - Bianca, Holesy, Aneta, Jol, Atom, Josh - All modified happy people

If you are a clean skin "normal" person and you see Modified people in the light I have described, remember this- We are looking at you with a stigma attached too, You look like "sheep" to us. Not that you are sheep but there is nothing to differentiate you from the masses. Everyone has the right to look however they want, my point is when you cast judgement on those that look different to yourself, have you really inquired into where this feeling comes from? Racism, Sexism & Stereotypes all stem from the same place - Fear of the unknown... So do yourself a favor and get to know people that are different to yourself. Rise above the generic programming given to you by a television screen.

Let Me Introduce Myself

My name is Atom Myzen and I have been modifying my body for the better part of two years. I am here to cover the amazing art of Human Body Modification and at the same time try to dispel some of the stigma and misunderstanding surrounding it.

I started with a small tattoo given to me for my birthday by a my good friend and talented "hand poke" tattoo artist Jol Agni. After this I caught what some might call "the bug" and I had to get more tattoos. I continued to let Jol tattoo me and this is still happening. Jol is also a top tier body piercer but I get to that later.


A few months Down the road and I was introduced to Samppa & Aneta Von Cyborg. Samppa Von Cyborg is arguably the G.O.A.T (greatest of all time) of extreme body modification. He is one of a handful of people in the world who are able to perform modification procedures of the most extreme nature.

Samppa Von Cyborg at work on my hand 3 months after my first tattoo Jan 2015

Exploiting this opportunity of meeting one of the gurus of the industry, I quickly put Samppa to work.
First was a sub-dermal implant in my left hand of a six pointed starfish/snowflake design that i fell in love with the moment Aneta Von Cyborg had shown me it. The implant was of a fair size but the incision Samppa made in the top of my wrist was small. So small in fact that I only required 4 stitches to be sewn up. The stitches were tied so well that at 18 months later I have no visible scar whatsoever.





After this I decided to get 2 sub-dermal implants in my head which was in Jan 2016. Samppa & Aneta did an excellent job again I must praise them. Again two small incisions on the hairline of my forehead. silicon implants were inserted and then I was stitched up.

I wont lie to you readers, When the drugs wore off that night it was painful to say the least. But I healed up quickly and Jol Agni removed my stitches 2 weeks later. About 6 months and almost no scarring is visible, by a year I expect it wont be seen at all I'm sure.

I have other tattoos but that is probably enough about me for now. I am indeed getting more modifications and I look forward to sharing them with you along with many other peoples mods here at - Human Modification.