The Huffington Post recently reported on a “hot new beauty trend” in Japan, although that description plays fast and loose with the word “beauty.”

Body modification enthusiasts — generally speaking, folks who get their whole bodies tattooed, split their tongues, stretch their earlobes and/or get Teflon implants under their skin — have found a new and temporary way to look different. All it takes is a sharp needle and a bunch of saline solution.

Practitioners inject the saline solution into patients’ foreheads. The solution gathers beneath the skin, forming a bulge so big it looks like a pimple swollen to about 500 times its normal size. Then the doctor pushes in the center of the bulge with his thumb. The saline is forced out of the center, leaving a ring-shaped protrusion on the forehead.

The bad news is that the whole thing seems painful and unpleasant. The good news is that the effect isn’t long-lasting; within about 16 hours, the saline is absorbed into the body and the protrusion disappears.

All photos courtesy of National Geographic by way of the Huffington Post.