Daytona Florida - What's a boy to do when his pierced nose and tattooed arms are no longer cutting edge? Why get horns of course.

Is that horns on your head or are you just happy to see me?

This latest new trend in body modification first appeared in Phoenix Arizona where a plastic surgery hardware specialist designed special equipment that let him implant stainless steel art pieces under the skin. Crosses, rings, and beads were soon disappearing under the skin of more advanced modern primitives and the demand for further modification began to rise. The next step was transdermal pieces that have a base lodged under the skin with the rest sticking out for the world to see. This surgery is what allowed Chris Watford of Daytona Beach Florida to get the horns he always longed for.

"I've been into piercing for several years and have always wanted to go further, " Chris told me. "When I read in a piercing magazine about what was being done with the transdermal implants I got excited."

So excited that he called a piercer in Atlanta that was mentioned in the article and made an appointment for the surgery.

"The piercer had apprenticed under one of the guys in Arizona that started this and I felt pretty safe in his hands. He explained what he was going to do and then did it. I was finished in about an hour and a half."

Medical diagram of the screw implantation procedure. Click here to see a larger version of the photo

I spoke with Jim Crow who runs "Crow's Piercing" in Atlanta.

"Chris's horn implants are becoming more and more common. I've done about a dozen of them over the past 9 months. It involves making two incisions in the upper dermal and implanting a 1 inch stainless steel plug. From this plug protrudes an 1/8 inch threaded steel rod that raises out for approx. 1 inch. We then close the incision and use a special suture style to make sure there is no scarring." Once the incision's heal and the sutures dissolve Chris is able to apply the thicker "horns" unto the threaded pole."

And what do Chris's friends and family think of his new statement of self?

"All my bud's seem to dig 'em. I gets lots of looks when I'm hanging out. Mom wasn't too happy but since I don't live under her roof she couldn't say too much."

sources

-interview with Chris Watford, August 9th, 1999

-phone interview with Jim Crow, August 10th, 1999

photo by Derek Barnes