Piercing is a form of adornment. Did you know there are nine places to pierce your ears? Some people like the world's most pierced woman go totally overboard.  Others like to push the envelope and pierce unusual parts of their bodies. Or get surgically implanted jewel piercings in their eyes. (Do not click on this past blog post if you are squeamish!)And now, we have see through piercings!

It's an extreme form of body modification. It is an extension of plugs - where pierced ear lobes are deliberately stretched with round discs made from a wide variety of materials. Hers just happens to be transparent and an unusual means of self-expression. She could be a walking ad for her dentist or dental hygiene!

Sometimes the plugs are hollow tubes called flesh tunnels which allows views through the enlarged ear holes (shown below).


While stretched piercings have gotten popular among the younger set in the Western world in recent years,this type of body modification is not new. The practice has existed for thousands of years in different cultures all over the world. The photo below shows an elderly woman from the Karen Thai Hill Tribe whose name translates as the "Big Ear Tribe". (Also check my past post on another hill tribe - The brass neck coils of the Padaung Hill tribe)


The following pictures show the stretched lips and earlobes of  Mursi women from Ethiopia. Their stretching discs are made from clay.



Apparently both sexes of the Maasai tribe in Kenya/Tanzania like stretching large airy holes in their ears. The beaded earrings in the next picture are huge!


Less extreme are the moderately stretched ear lobes of these Maasai women below. Aren't their earrings and neck pieces fabulous? 


When the Spanish conquistadors discovered the Incas in South America, they saw well- to-do men wearing enormous earrings through stretched ear lobes. The Spaniards nicknamed them orejones or "big ears".  Shown here is a photo taken of a Larco Museum (Lima, Peru) sketch of how they used to wear them. And you thought chandeliers earrings are too heavy!

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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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