Body modification

Body modification is the deliberate alteration of the human body’s appearance or form, through practices such as tattooing, piercing, scarification, and implants.

Tattooing: The insertion of pigment into the skin to create a lasting design. It modifies appearance by placing durable pigment within the skin.
Body art: Artistic practices that use the human body as a medium or site of expression. It frames deliberate bodily changes as artistic expression.
Reconstructive surgery: Surgery that restores or improves bodily form or function after injury, disease, or congenital difference. Its aims are usually restoration or function rather than elective bodily expression.
Ötzi: A Copper Age man whose naturally preserved body bears tattoos and dates to around 3300 BCE. His tattoos provide unusually early archaeological evidence of bodily marking.
Body piercing: The creation of an opening in the body to wear jewelry or other objects. It alters the body through openings that may be temporary or maintained.
Adornment: The use of objects or alterations to enhance or communicate through appearance. Body modifications can function as lasting forms of bodily adornment.
Body dysmorphic disorder: A mental disorder involving persistent distress about perceived flaws in appearance. It distinguishes modification choices from distress driven by a disorder of body image.
Mummy tattooing: Tattoo marks identified on preserved human remains from ancient societies. Preserved bodies document tattooing across cultures and historical periods.
Scarification: The deliberate creation of scars through cutting, branding, or other injury to the skin. It produces raised or patterned marks through controlled healing.
Rite of passage: A ceremony marking a transition from one social status or stage of life to another. Some communities incorporate bodily alteration into status transitions.

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