Body modification just gets more and more bizarre. Now people in Japan are injecting saline into their foreheads to make them look like bagels!
A bagel head artist injects the forehead with approximately 400cc of saline over two hours. This forms a large welt on the head. Then the artist presses their finger into the middle of the lump to create the unique bagel shape.
This bizarre look only last a day because the body soon absorbs the saline. According to users no matter how many times the forehead it is injected with the saline solution, the skin never sags.
Photographer and journalist Ryoichi “Keroppy” Maeda has been hosting “bagel head” parties around Tokyo since 2007.
The technique was pioneered by Montreal-based photographer Jerome Abramovitch in 1999.
He then gave Maeda permission to take the strange technique to Japan.
“The body absorbs it over time so by the next morning it just goes back to normal. We enjoy being freaks for the night, ha ha,” says Maeda.
First published 2012.
UPDATE 2025: “Bagel foreheads” (also known as “bagel head” or “saline forehead inflation”) was a short-lived body modification trend, mostly seen in Japan around 2012. The procedure involved injecting saline into the forehead, creating a temporary swollen area that could be pressed in the middle to resemble a bagel or doughnut shape. The effect lasted around 16 to 24 hours before the body naturally absorbed the saline.
While it got a lot of media attention, it was never a widespread practice—more of a niche experiment within Japan’s underground body modification scene. It wasn’t painful but was mainly done for aesthetic shock value or artistic expression.
Today, it’s pretty rare to see anyone doing it, as the trend faded quickly. Most people stick to more permanent (or at least more conventional) body mods like tattoos and piercings.