Some call it creepy. Others call it a form of art. Still others just can't resist its trendy appeal.
Microdermal piercing is now bringing a new dimension to Hong Kong's body art culture.
Henri Anna, for one, catches people's eyes on the street with it. She sports three shiny rocks attached to her chest and another on her forearm.
'I love it,' she notes. 'I find it special and pretty. Sometimes I have people pointing fingers at me, but I don't mind. It's a form of art and a fashion statement to me.'
Anna runs the MHK Body Piercing studio, which is among the first to offer microdermal piercing Hong Kong. It's a new, less invasive form of skin decoration that anchors implants on the surface of the skin, not deep within it like conventional 'transdermal' piercing techniques.
Anna is a licenced practitioner of body piercing with more than 10 years' experience. She recently finished an intensive training course in Britain. In Britain and the US, body piercing studios need to carry a licence, unlike here in Hong Kong, where basically anyone can set up shop.