Eyeball Implants Hit The Mainstream? - BME: Tattoo, Piercing and Body Modification NewsBME: Tattoo, Piercing and Body Modification News

Nearly a decade ago Modblog covered Rachel’s extraocular implant.

Recently there has been a surge in news sources covering a woman paying $3,000 to have the same procedure done in New York City. Comparatively Rachel paid about $900 USD including the flight! Six months after Rachel’s procedure there were a few cases of the media claiming that a few people in California were the first Americans to have it done. So not only is this topic not a new trend, it’s already been done in the United States, been covered, and it was already full of misinformation!

Now we all know more “conventional” news sources aren’t always up to date on what’s going on with the body modification community, but waiting almost 10 years to tout something as a “new fad” is a bit excessive. Even a quick internet search would let you know this has been going on for years, and that for 3 grand you could have a hell of a vacation in the Netherlands AND have the procedure done! It seems like there should be a bit more investigation work when it comes to hyping a body modification publicly.

It has always been interesting to me as a body piercer to see certain things randomly gain popularity. Forward helix piercings have been around since the dawn of time but I can’t begin to explain how frequently I’ve been asked about them this year. It leads me to wonder what else the mainstream media may finally discover and decide is the new cool and/or a danger to your children.

How do you feel about popular news sources picking up on body modifications? These articles expose a new audience to things they have never seen, but are often times filled with misinformation and spun in a negative light. Is it our job to shout back?

Personally I’m holding my breath for when USA Today figures out what a subincision is, what a headline that will be!

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