Speaking of certain Congo people, Tuckey says that
they scar themselves principally with the idea of rendering
themselves agreeable to the women of their tribe. Among the
Itzaex Indians of Yucatan, a race with particularly handsome
features, some are marked with scarred lines, inflicted as signs
of courage.
Cosmetic Mutilations.--In modern times there have been
individuals expert in removing facial deformities, and by
operations of various kinds producing pleasing dimples or other
artificial signs of beauty. We have seen an apparatus advertised
to be worn on the nose during the night for the purpose of
correcting a disagreeable contour of this organ. A medical
description of the artificial manufacture of dimples is as
follows:--"The modus operandi was to make a puncture in the skin
where the dimple was required, which would not be noticed when
healed, and, with a very delicate instrument, remove a portion of
the muscle. Inflammation was then excited in the skin over the
subcutaneous pit, and in a few days the wound, if such it may be
called, was healed, and a charming dimple was the result." It is
quite possible that some of our modern operators have overstepped
the bounds of necessity, and performed unjustifiable plastic
operations to satisfy the vanity of their patients.
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