Body modification
(The following text or part of it is quoted from the free Wikipedia article Körpermodifikation
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Body modification is a generic term for various changes in the human body. They are carried out for aesthetic reasons or for sexual stimulation and are usually carried out by specialized commercial providers. There is usually no medical indication. In contrast to other types of body design, which achieve changes, for example, through superficial painting or through training, body modifications involve injurious interventions in the substance of the human body (the skin, sometimes also the underlying cartilage and fatty tissue) and with permanent ones or changes that are difficult to undo.
Body modification includes tattoos, body piercings, implants, as well as branding, decorative scars, and other scarification. The demarcation from cosmetic surgery is also sometimes ambiguous. For example, breast augmentation or rib removal is not usually counted as part of body modification, but other silicone implants are. Likewise, a religiously motivated circumcision would not count. In the specific case, the motive for the intervention decides whether it falls into the category of body modification. In a sense, body hair removal could also be understood in a broader sense as a widespread form of body modification.