A black-and-white photo of a person mid-air in a Superman-style body suspension pose, supported by multiple hooks in their back and legs, smiling joyfully toward the camera. They are suspended horizontally in a large indoor space with high ceilings and visible rigging. A group of onlookers—some seated, some standing—watch with expressions of admiration, amusement, and support. The atmosphere is lively and communal, capturing a moment of shared experience and transformation.

Advice from your mother

With apologies to the submitter for posting this in this context, but one of the biggest reasons that piercings (and mods in general) go wrong is that people don’t take proper care of their bodies. Most body modifications are in effect asking your body to heal a wound “open”, which it’s definitely not evolved to do, so it’s important that you give it the best possible chances to do so by adhering to general standards of cleanliness.

As the person who processes the photos and has to look at everything in detail, ear washing is also appreciated for that reason.

for-the-love-of-god-clean-your-ears.jpg

Comments

84 responses to “Advice from your mother”

  1. TheWomanMonster Avatar
    TheWomanMonster

    *gets out a bottle of diluted tea tree oil and a cotton swab*
    C’mere hun… I’ll make it all better.

    LOL.

  2. idreamorange Avatar

    yikes. that doesn’t look to happy. i think just taking a shower would of gotten rid of that.

  3. TOflat Avatar
    TOflat

    …ICK!!! Some people need a good slap on the back of the head for letting piercings and other mods get to this point without doing anything. And have an information brochure shoved down their throats….hey…BME Aftercare brochures would be awesome to put in all the little different tattoo and piercing shops!

  4. xvictorx Avatar

    eeeek. there’s gunk in her tunnels too. ive gotten lazy taking care of my piercings at points in time. but this is just a matter of general cleanliness

  5. dox Avatar
    dox

    i only hope the submitter submitted it as a ‘ths is why you should clean’ picture rather than a ‘hey check out my piercings’ cause seriously if you still dont notice that after sucha cloer up shot. youre in toruble

  6. Sarah Avatar

    PLEASE tell me that gunk on her ear is not wax.

  7. deadlypoison Avatar

    *gets out some mild soap and luke wamr water, drags her over and washes it myself*

    i really wish people would realise – you dont keep it clean and the surrounding area and it wont be happy!

  8. Dawn Avatar
    Dawn

    That must smell awesome.

  9. przxqgl Avatar

    you would think that, after one, she wouldn’t have bothered… seven in that condition? euch… 8P

  10. kwaniesiam Avatar
    kwaniesiam

    ….ick. I just can’t understand how people let themselves go like that. *prepares a super soaker squirt-gun full of sea salt soaking solution* Wow that’s a lot of s words

  11. Seth D Avatar

    That’s so funny that this pic ended up on ModBlog. Because I ran across that picture a day or two ago on IAM and I just thought to myself, “I would never put that picture in my portfolio!” If for nothing more than just sheer lack of hygiene! Yuck!

  12. amy Avatar
    amy

    the tragus piecing is the only one that doesn’t look extremely unhappy.

  13. herekittykitty Avatar
    herekittykitty

    I know some people are squicked out when cleaning a fresh sore ear, and I sympathize. But please. It’s a good thing to care for it.

    The gunk-filled tunnel there is NO EXCUSE for. None. I can only imagine what the portion that touches the ear is like right about now.

  14. satahokahei Avatar
    satahokahei

    Maybe her boyfriend came in her ear and she just forgot.

  15. shitzu Avatar
    shitzu

    @14, Hahaha…that comment made my day ^_^

  16. TribalJMD Avatar

    Is that blood by the 3rd and 4th hole?!? possibly stretching too fast?

  17. Amy Avatar
    Amy

    Tribal.MD: yeah, I think that is blood. This ear needs major help.

  18. MeRay Avatar
    MeRay

    Bleh! That is one unhappy ear…I don’t understand why or how people let this happen.
    I’m going with it’s blood…stretching to fast does seem likely.
    Oh man it’s like a train wreck I can’t look away…Oh god inside the tunnel?!?

  19. Sade Avatar
    Sade

    the stuff in the tunnels is just uncalled for.

    i can’t lie, there are days i am lazy, and can go 2 days without cleaning my ears, but then my ears kick my ass by itching really bad:(

  20. QueenofHearts Avatar
    QueenofHearts

    Am i the only one noticing the apparent discoloration on the lobe surrounding the third and fourth holes? I know some redness is to be expected after a fresh stretch (especially when going way too fast like this person must have, as evidenced by the blood) but that purple color is just not looking healthy at all. It looks like that lobe is on its way to falling right off!

  21. karakins Avatar

    That is foul. My ears are crying.

    The 3rd and 4th holes look so unhappy. And the o-rings look like they’re way too tight. I’m not so sure if there actually is gunk inside the tunnel. It may just be a funny reflection? But, holy damn if it is gunk.

  22. Shannon Avatar

    I actually didn’t think the piercings looked too irritated, I was just shocked at how crusty the ear as a whole was, especially around the industrial, which I believe is mostly healed.

  23. Zar Avatar
    Zar

    *vomits* *cleans own ears*

  24. cyber_android Avatar

    The most complex and gorey modification photos never make me even blink but this…oh man I feel poorly now!

  25. Erene Avatar
    Erene

    EEEEEWWWWWWWWWW.

  26. Lucy Avatar
    Lucy

    I wanna pick all that off in one big lump..
    ..then make that person eat it.

  27. Mark Avatar
    Mark

    Mmm… tasty! But seriously.. that’s disgusting.

  28. JP Avatar
    JP

    This is harder to look at than amputations and other extreme stuff for me.

  29. Gingerbread_Gem Avatar
    Gingerbread_Gem

    oh dear… um…

    surely just a regular shower should stop that kind of build up of nastyness :S

    what would posess somebody to show off their piercings in this state?

  30. Isabel Avatar
    Isabel

    A hot sea salt soak, followed by some q-tips and possible a soft toothbrush on that poor suffocating barbell, followed by another even longer hot sea salt soak, followed by some dilute tea tree oil, followed by 1,000 lines of “Thou shalt not cultivate ear cheese” and/or “Acrylic in angry piercings is bad, mmk?”

  31. senda Avatar

    I can’t understand it, it’s almost impossible to skip an ear if you use to take showers and wash your hair…

  32. infernalmachine Avatar
    infernalmachine

    this may be unnecessarily mean of me but if that’s her ear, i feel sorry for her boyfriend’s sake re: the rest of her.

  33. Heron Avatar
    Heron

    Infernalmachine:I agree, poor guy,or girl!!!!!! People-if you have any holes, whether they are natural or man made, clean that shit!

  34. Airi Zombie Avatar

    Why is it that I can hang around the posts about people who eat their own testicles.. but THIS is what sickens me?

  35. satahokahei Avatar
    satahokahei

    @33 maybe her boyfriend has gunk build up in special places 2, that would make it a perfect match.

  36. xander Avatar
    xander

    ewwww and there is ear wax in the top of her ear too! dude! not smart! that ear looks very angry! man!

  37. Saffy Avatar

    eurghhh thats just plain nasty. how someone can let their piercings/mods get in that state is beyond me, let alone upload a photo of it. *shudders*

  38. jonnycore Avatar
    jonnycore

    oh god….
    OH GOD!
    *crashes as he falls off chair*
    (sometime later) Paramedic: oh god, looks like another case
    of people not cleaning their ears n squicking people to death…
    Other Paramedic: those sick bastards…..WHEN WILL THIS END!!

  39. Archetype Avatar

    Am I the only wondering how the hell that scaffolding got into her ear in the first place? it’s a coil…

    either way thats fucking sick. & i was eating CHEESE and onion crisps 🙁

  40. Tinu Avatar
    Tinu

    Yeah right, that is one dirty ear, but I’m a bit more disgusted by how apparently people need to outperform each other in expressing their disgust and how they all know it better, each comment here is a bit worse than the one before.

    I appreciate how Shannon apologizes to the submitter, and I understand his reason to post it anyway because he cares about things like that, but most of the comments on here are just rude and immature.

  41. gina Avatar
    gina

    It does not matter. That is just unhealthy.

  42. jason Avatar
    jason

    … to say nothing of the jewelry selection…

  43. Kat777 Avatar
    Kat777

    ::gags::

  44. Toothpaste Avatar

    #41: It’s called basic hygiene!

  45. Mary Avatar
    Mary

    Alright, I agree, that’s pretty nasty… and many of her piercings are upset and kicking, but maybe her ears are just naturally waxy? I mean, undoubtedly they should have cleaned it by now, but I think you guys could very well be underestimating her sense of cleanliness.
    Haha, i guess I’m just sticking up for her because my boyfriend also has horrible ear wax. He cleans it every other day, but he really has large quantities of it… it makes me squirm, but I know he has good hygiene overall.

  46. mandy Avatar

    that ear looks so unhappy and it makes mine ache a little for them. it’s a shame there seem to be so many people misguided- you actually have to take care of your modications (regardless of what they are) if you want to have a better chance of them healing. In not so sympathethic comments… you’d think that cleaning them at at least once a day, even during a shower could have prevented some of that mess.

  47. Jess Avatar
    Jess

    Guhh. I feel bad for her piercer. I hope to god she atleast cleaned her ears before she went in to get those done :\

  48. bucket of bunnies Avatar
    bucket of bunnies

    is there a story behind this, or an updated (clean) picture?

  49. Ty Tweeder Avatar
    Ty Tweeder

    those poor ears, i just got my lobes done……. and i will never let them look that sad. ever.

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