The last posting of an Achilles piercing here on Modblog generated a number of whiny complaints about how unviable and dangerous it is from conservative piercers**. Now, my feeling is that in what I hope will always remain a rebel artform — rather than an “industry” — that there’s no space for conservatism (or whining), so with that in mind there’s a Mr. Tetanus interview pending.
Mr. Tetanus, a performance artist, wears a self-made 10mm spike through his ankle, behind the Achilles tendon, and has had it now for about twelve years. In the picture below you can see it now, as well as a photo looking through the hole and showing the displacement of the tendon. He doesn’t take it out much because the hole closes up within about a minute, and begins to reseal itself within half an hour.
He uses the piercing in performances, swinging bowling balls and other weights (another performance artist — “Angel” — has actually hung from meat-hooks worn in this piercing), so it can definitely take quite a bit of abuse without crippling him. That said, he emphasizes that he doesn’t recommend anyone else try this, and notes that even after twelve years it’s never truly healed (that said, it’s not as if tongue piercings ever “truly” heal for many people either) and in theory continues to put him at risk.
Risk, Schmisk!!! Anyway, I’ll post the full interview soon, but I couldn’t resist putting up a teaser and a photo of his remarkable ankle!
** Note: Since there are some serious comprehension issues with this entry getting people even whinier, let me be perfectly clear: I couldn’t care less if a piercer feels that they don’t want to do this, and personally I don’t think this should be offered on the walk-in public. Where I have a problem is if people say that no one should be doing or getting this modification (or other heavy mods). Body modification is where it is today because people informed themselves about the risks and tried new things, often with what seemed like serious dangers at the time — and when that ends, body modification begins to die.
Comments
560 responses to “Unlikely but True: Achilles Piercing”
Shannon, you are by far the biggest, whiniest most egotistical cunt on here. You contradict yourself and are a complete fucking hypocrite. You really need to grow the fuck up and mature some and stop hiding behind strawman arguments and realize that it’s the people like you, not the dumbasses that try to get ‘dangerous’ things banned or the idiots who attempt the more dangerous ones and fuck them up and get attention for it, that make the community laughable in the eyes of everyone else. You’re nothing but a bloated ego hiding behind a scene and everyone but your little fans thinks you’re a joke. I doubt you’ll read this, I doubt anyone will give a damn about this after all I am just a nobody and this is a pretty ancient topic but whatever.
Shannon, you are by far the biggest, whiniest most egotistical cunt on here. You contradict yourself and are a complete fucking hypocrite. You really need to grow the fuck up and mature some and stop hiding behind strawman arguments and realize that it’s the people like you, not the dumbasses that try to get ‘dangerous’ things banned or the idiots who attempt the more dangerous ones and fuck them up and get attention for it, that make the community laughable in the eyes of everyone else. You’re nothing but a bloated ego hiding behind a scene and everyone but your little fans thinks you’re a joke. I doubt you’ll read this, I doubt anyone will give a damn about this after all I am just a nobody and this is a pretty ancient topic but whatever.
wow, that’s a pretty rad idea. i’d never do it myself, but i like to see other people taking risks with their bodies. it would be a pretty boring world without those brave souls who aren’t afraid to push the limits.
wow, that’s a pretty rad idea. i’d never do it myself, but i like to see other people taking risks with their bodies. it would be a pretty boring world without those brave souls who aren’t afraid to push the limits.
Hey, I don’t really see what all the fuss is about with these piercings… That guy is an extreme example, but he wanted to do it and still enjoys it, so who cares.. good for him. I actually gave myself an achilles piercing on accident, and it didn’t really hurt at all. I was giving myself a homemade ankle tatoo with a safety pin and ink, and when I was pressing down kinda hard in one of the spots, the safety pin actually just kinda slid further into my skin, pretty deep. So I pushed it a little farther and it just went in all the way, seriously hardly any pain involved, I was shocked. It did however hurt a little bit trying to get it to come out the other side of my ankle, but nothing excruiating. lol and I ended up leaving the piercing there for about a year or two.
Not all people may be like this, but there’s a certain spot on the ankle where you can pretty much pierce with little to no pain. You’ll know you’re in the wrong spot if it really hurts or if it feels like you might be hiting a nerve or something. As long as you make sure to clean your skin and whatever you use to pierce with really well to help reduce infection, and as long as you don’t keep pushing it in if you feel a lot of pain…I’d say almost anyone could try it at home if they really wanted to and were careful…just like any other piercing. That guy’s piercing was a lot larger than mine lol and I don’t think I’d ever want it stretched like that, but still cool how he chose to express himself. Here’s a pic that looks more like a normal one and is a slightly smaller version of what mine looked like:
http://wiki.bmezine.com/index.php/Image:Achilles_Piercing-1.jpg
Happy Piercing!! 🙂
Hey, I don’t really see what all the fuss is about with these piercings… That guy is an extreme example, but he wanted to do it and still enjoys it, so who cares.. good for him. I actually gave myself an achilles piercing on accident, and it didn’t really hurt at all. I was giving myself a homemade ankle tatoo with a safety pin and ink, and when I was pressing down kinda hard in one of the spots, the safety pin actually just kinda slid further into my skin, pretty deep. So I pushed it a little farther and it just went in all the way, seriously hardly any pain involved, I was shocked. It did however hurt a little bit trying to get it to come out the other side of my ankle, but nothing excruiating. lol and I ended up leaving the piercing there for about a year or two.
Not all people may be like this, but there’s a certain spot on the ankle where you can pretty much pierce with little to no pain. You’ll know you’re in the wrong spot if it really hurts or if it feels like you might be hiting a nerve or something. As long as you make sure to clean your skin and whatever you use to pierce with really well to help reduce infection, and as long as you don’t keep pushing it in if you feel a lot of pain…I’d say almost anyone could try it at home if they really wanted to and were careful…just like any other piercing. That guy’s piercing was a lot larger than mine lol and I don’t think I’d ever want it stretched like that, but still cool how he chose to express himself. Here’s a pic that looks more like a normal one and is a slightly smaller version of what mine looked like:
http://wiki.bmezine.com/index.php/Image:Achilles_Piercing-1.jpg
Happy Piercing!! 🙂
Wow FLGirl, Ithink your post is the single most dangerous thing I’ve ever read on Modblog. Congrats!
Wow FLGirl, Ithink your post is the single most dangerous thing I’ve ever read on Modblog. Congrats!
I’m calling BS on FLGirl. I’m not buying your story.
That said, I have had several surgeries on my right leg/ankle from a head on collision with an 18 wheeler. 2 of the surgeries involved me having to wear external fixators, the first one was placed after a bone graft in my ankle and I had 2 thick rods going thru my ankle and 4 thinner rods going thru my leg bone with other rods connecting it all together…it was called a Hoffman device external fixation (it looked kind of like surgical steel tinker toys)….I wore that one for almost a year….the second one was placed to lengthen my leg because all of the surgeries, infections and the initial trauma I had lost over 2 inches of length….it involved 16 pins going thru my leg and ankle bones with 4 sets of halo rings and other rods connecting it all together plus some little dials that I had to turn several times a day which performed the actual stretching (millimeters at a time)…it is called an Ilizarov (google it for pics)….I wore that one around 9 months. Both of them were incredibly painful the entire time I had them on. I banged the crap out of my good leg and I hit the metal cages on anything I got close to and would yelp out in pain every time. So you can understand why I would be alarmed with someone doing this for ‘fun’.
I’m calling BS on FLGirl. I’m not buying your story.
That said, I have had several surgeries on my right leg/ankle from a head on collision with an 18 wheeler. 2 of the surgeries involved me having to wear external fixators, the first one was placed after a bone graft in my ankle and I had 2 thick rods going thru my ankle and 4 thinner rods going thru my leg bone with other rods connecting it all together…it was called a Hoffman device external fixation (it looked kind of like surgical steel tinker toys)….I wore that one for almost a year….the second one was placed to lengthen my leg because all of the surgeries, infections and the initial trauma I had lost over 2 inches of length….it involved 16 pins going thru my leg and ankle bones with 4 sets of halo rings and other rods connecting it all together plus some little dials that I had to turn several times a day which performed the actual stretching (millimeters at a time)…it is called an Ilizarov (google it for pics)….I wore that one around 9 months. Both of them were incredibly painful the entire time I had them on. I banged the crap out of my good leg and I hit the metal cages on anything I got close to and would yelp out in pain every time. So you can understand why I would be alarmed with someone doing this for ‘fun’.