The name Tiamat Legion Medusa (originally born as Richard Hernández) has become a living myth within the culture of extreme body modifications, being regarded by many as the person with the most radical and morbid metamorphosis on the planet.
Before looking like a mythological creature straight out of a horror movie, Tiamat had a completely conventional life. She was a successful vice president at one of the most important banks in the United States. However, everything changed when she was diagnosed with HIV.
Thinking her days were numbered, she made a drastic decision: she did not want to die looking like an ordinary human being. She wanted to leave this world by transforming into the animal that had obsessed her since childhood: a dragon.
Tiamat invested more than 80,000 dollars in a series of painful and irreversible procedures that conventional surgeons refused to perform:
Ear amputation: She underwent an illegal operation to completely remove both outer ears, leaving the openings of her ear canals exposed like those of a reptile.
Nasal modification: Part of her nasal cartilage was sliced away and her nostrils were widened to achieve a completely flat and serpentine appearance.
Forked tongue: She went into surgery to have her tongue cut in half, achieving the independent movement of two tips.
Subdermal horns: Eight silicone and metal implants were embedded directly under the skin of her forehead and skull to simulate dragon ridges.
Full eyeball tattoo: The whites of her eyes were injected with permanent green ink through a dangerous procedure that could have left her blind.
She underwent total castration and covered 95% of her body with a tattoo that imitates intricate reptilian scales.
Tiamat says that becoming a dragon was her way of breaking with the traumas of her childhood and with social labels.
Today she defines herself as a “magical hybrid” creature and says that her transformation is not over yet