Shocking pictures of woman with giant lip-disc

Ataye Eligidagne, 20, wears a giant lip-disc in accordance with local tradition. Picture: Abraham Joffe Source: Diimex

THESE are the jaw-dropping images of a woman with the world’s largest facial adornment.

Ataye Eligidagne, from Ethiopia, has been stretching her lip for three years in order to accommodate a gigantic lip-disc.
The 20-year-old had her lower front teeth removed after her lip-piercing to help make room for the adornment, which is 59.5cm in circumference and 19.5cm in diameter. more Pixs after the cut

Eligidagne spent three years stretching her piercing.

The previous record for a lip-disc is 15cm in diameter, according to the Guinness Book of Records.
Lip-discs, usually made out of hardened clay, typically range from 7-13cm in diameter.
They are worn by women belonging to the Surma and Mursi people of the lower Omo River valley in order to attract husbands.
The larger the disc, the larger the dowry, usually paid in cattle, and typically numbering around 50.

Eligidagne sometimes wears a wooden rhomboid adornment instead.

Eligidagne’s enormous lip-disc should ensure her family receives a large dowry of live cattle when she marries.
An Australian film crew, led by cinematographer Abraham Joffe and working for Canon Australia, met Eligidagne in the remote Surma Mountains this month, where they were filming American photographer, Art Wolfe at work.
The crew also saw her wearing a wooden rhombus-shaped adornment in her lip.
The discs must be worn to ensure the lip stays stretched, much like a pair of new earrings, or the “flesh-tunnels” favoured by rock stars.

The previous record-breaker was 15cm in diameter. Picture: Abraham Joffe Source: Diimex

The frequency of piercing among the younger generation is diminishing.

Young women have their lips pierced by older women in the tribe, usually at around the age of 15 to 18.
Lip-discs are thought to have been worn in the Omo Valley since 1896 and it is thought they were invented to disfigure tribal women to prevent them from being stolen for the slave trade.
In recent times, the Ethiopian government has taken measures to ban lip-piercing and its frequency among the younger generation is diminishing.
While Eligidagne said she was proud of her lip-disc, when asked if she would want a future daughter to wear one, she said she would respect her child’s choice.