Kala Kaiwi, a tattoo and body modification artist from Hawaii, recently set the Guinness Record for the largest non-surgically made earlobe rings in the world. Also known as ‘flesh tunnels’, the earlobe stretches measure a whopping 4.3 inches in diameter – so large that you could fit your hand right through them!

It’s not just the lobes – Kaiwi has modified almost every part of his body. He has silicone horn implants in his forehead, stretches in his nostrils, tattooed eyebrows, studs all over his face, and bolt holes on his forehead with spikes screwed in. He also managed to split his own tongue using dental floss.

Kaiwi trained in body art in Las Vegas in 1999, before he moved back to Hawaii to open his own business called the Sin City Body Modification and Tattoo shop. But he started with the really extreme stuff only a few years ago.

“For me, you know, I started about two-and-a-half, almost three years now, doing extreme body modification,” Kaiwi said. “For me, I got a lot of my work from another artist.” He said that while most implants are made of silicone these days, he actually has surgical steel and surgical teflon implants inserted in his body. “Like my horns are silicone, my spikes on my head are titanium, and obviously, the rest of the piercings are all surgical steel.”

“Body modification as a whole has evolved into this whole Mecca, you know, this whole community of modified people. Before, you know, 10, 15 years ago, 20 years ago it would be considered forbidden. Now it’s on the forefront. A lot of people are starting to realise that if it’s done appropriately, it’s done in a safe, cleanly and sterile environment, it’s no different than doing breast augmentation or cheek implants.”

Kaiwi says that body modification is more of a spiritual act for him. He also predicts that the art might get more extreme in the future and emerge as a sub culture in its own right. “The envelope is always being pushed, there’s always more extreme stuff being invented.” Although, he explains that ‘extreme’ is rather relative term – “A lot of times it would be what a person would consider normal. For a normal person, tongue piercing would be extreme. For us, being around the industry for a long time, our tongues are split – to us that’s a norm. It’s just an evolution of body art.”

via Daily Mail