My Findings on Body Art and Modification

Branding is a popular way of marking things, like cattle. Some extreme fraternities even apply brands to their members for initiation purposes. But now they are becoming more and more popular as a voluntary form of decorating ones self.

For anyone that doesn’t know branding is when a hot, or in some rare cases cold, Iron is used to heat a persons skin making a permanent, hopefully raised, scar in some sort of design or shape.

In some gangs and prisons, people will get these instead of the more traditional method of tattooing to initiate a person. Like I said before some extreme fraternities use brands to initiate members. Former President George W. Bush is rumored to have been apart of the Delta fraternity at Yale while they where allegedly branding the backsides of members with the shape of a Delta. Branding was also seen in the movie Jackass II when Bam Margera received a brand a penis on his butt. Also branding was seen in the movie Jarhead as a Marine initiation process. Brandings have also been used to associate slaves with their owners if they where lucky enough to escape but unfortunately be caught.



While the hot iron method is very common now a person can get a brand with a laser in a somewhat surgical process. The cold method is the as the hot iron just intensely frozen cold is pressed onto the skin to make the design.



The pain is so to not be as bad as one would think, it is mostly psychological. The real pain is said to be during the healing process, especially if the body part is touched or moved. The aftercare is quite basic, many people say to just leave it alone. Other people will irritate the brand by using rough brushes or similar things but this can cause uneven rising of the scar. Healing takes 2 to 6 months and during the healing the brand will go back and forth between looking good and gross until fully healed. Some people with tattoo over or around the brand once fully healed to give it a more apparent look.

As with any body art or modification have a brand done by an experienced person, not your fraternity brother while drunk.

Dennis Avner is not the average 50 year old computer programmer living in Nevada. Better known as “Cat man” or as he prefers to called, “Staking Cat,” is one of the most modified people in the world and resembles a tiger.

“Stalking Cat” is his Native American name, Avner being of Huron descent. His modifications are not just for fun. Stalking Cat is transforming himself into a tiger to resemble his totem, a sort of spiritual guide in Huron tradition, the tiger. Avner was told by a chief to follow the ways of the tiger.




Stalking Cat has had large amounts of tattoo work, subdermal and transdermal implants, and surgeries to complete his transformation and is not done yet.


Stalking Cats Modifications
• Extensive tattooing all over body
• His hairline moved
• Transdermal implants on face for removable whiskers
• Extensive dental work to have feline teeth
• Ears modified
o Ears pointed
o Earlobes elongated
• Silicone injections in the lip chin and cheeks to have the cat look facially
• Cleft lip



Stalking Cat also plans on having transdermal implants on his head for removable tiger like ears. He currently wears contact lenses that resemble cat eyes.

Stalking Cat has become a celebrity and has made many television and radio appearances including being featured on Ripley’s Believe it or Not, and interviewed by BBC.

Body Modification, while still looked at with a raised eyebrow by some, continues to increase in popularity just as tattoos and body piercings have done. Everyone can relate to it, especially Star Trek fans. The Vulcan and Romulan ears, and other odd shapes on peoples bodies are quite similar to the body mod world's subdermal implants.

Subdermal Implants are a piece of body jewelry placed under the skin to create a raised design. Implant material is usually made of silicone or Teflon and can be inserted by a body modification artist or in some cases by surgery. The implant can be in many different shapes, some popular designs are stars, rods, hearts, swirls, horns, and beads.

The insertion process is really quite simple compared to what I thought it would be. An incision is made with a scalpel then a dermal separator (resembling a spatula) is used to raise up the skin forming a pocket for the implant to be inserted. The implant is carefully put in place and the incision is closed with sutures or suture tape. The implant does not need to be inserted right at the point of incision; it can be placed away from the incision. Eyebrow implant incisions are made at the top of the forehead than the implant is slid to the eyebrow area.

A band aid wrapped around the implant will help prevent against migration of the implant in the early days of healing. The sutures may come out after 10 to 12 days. The healing takes about 3 months, by this time the implant should have the desired affect. After healing is completely finished the implant may be take out and replaced with a larger one.

The idea of these types of implants first came about in 1994 from a man named Steve Haworth in Phoenix, Arizona. A woman wanted a bracelet so he came up with the idea of placing a series of beads under the skin on her wrist and she decided to give it a try making her the first subdermal implant.