Seriously, universe? (Sidenote: Above is a grown woman, not a child.)
There’s the awesome kind of Elf Quest with cosplaying fan films and then there’s the creepy kind: getting the cartilage of your ear hacked into a point, sans anesthesia or antibiotics, by someone without surgeon’s credentials. The body modification is called “Ear pointing” (horrifying NSFW YouTube video here), which ABC’s Good Morning America labelled “Spock ears for kids” even though there’s no evidence that a single child has ever had this procedure. Way to blatantly lie when not doing paid plugs masked as news, network morning shows. The Good Morning America clip is after the jump; I’m very sorry.
The procedure itself involves someone who is not a doctor slicing open the cartilage at the top of the ear (which is extremely painful and dangerous), removing a wedge of it, and stitching the ear back together in a pointed shape. Best case scenario: you’re out some cash and your ear is slightly pointy after weeks of discomfort and slow cartilage healing. Worst case scenario: you just paid some random stranger in a strip mall a bunch of money to give you Hep C and your damn ears fall off. Congratulations.
[Steve] Haworth, who charges $600 for both ears, can’t use anesthetic on his pixie patients because he’s not an actual doctor. Because actual doctors know that altering such important body parts can result in major deformities and infection that could entirely destroy the ear within days. [HuffPo]
You know, she really has a point. OH! Hit me with a sweet rimshot, Gary!
https://abcnews.go.com/assets/player/walt2.6/flash/SFP_Walt_2_65.swf