Transgender woman has cut off her ears to look like a reptile

A pre-operative transgender woman has cut off her ears, shaved her nose and had scales tattooed all over her body in a bid to look like a rattlesnake.
Dragon Lady Eva Tiamat Baphoment Medusa - who likes to referred to as it, like a snake would be - has spent the last 20 years attempting to look more like a reptile.

It believes that it was brought up by Western Diamondback rattlesnakes after it was abandoned by its parents as a young boy.
Tiamat has had several dramatic body modifications over the years, including having its ears cut off, a shaved nose, horn implants, eyebrow dome implants, a forked tongue, fangs and dyed the whites of its eyes green.

It also wants to be covered from head to toe in tattooed scales and body piercings - including in the armpit.
Tiamat did not use a doctor for the cosmetic surgery and instead turned to a body modification artist. She has spent around $60,000 so far (£45k).
The Dragon Lady told Fox 10 : "I was born to my human mother in the Phoenix area, but I was born to my reptilian parents when my mother and stepfather abandoned me to the woods.
"My whole transformation today is basically an honor to my reptilian parents which are the rattlesnakes.. the Western Diamondback in particular."

Tiamat was born Richard Hernandez in Maricopa County in Arizona and has taken on several different personas before eventually settling on the Dragon Lady look.
On its website, Tiamat explains: "I am the Dragon Lady, A pre-op M2F (male to female) transgender in the process of morphing into a human dragon, becoming a reptoid as I shed my human skin and my physical appearance and my life as a whole leaving my humanness behind.

"I don't care what people say about me or my views, and if I have to I will defy and stand alone against the world, but never will I make any compromise to my integrity."
Tiamat says the reaction to its unique look is often positive.

"People love me.. I go out and I am greeted with smiles.
"One lady fell out of her chair at a restaurant when she saw me and hit the floor."

The Dragon Lady lives in Edna, Texas and says she makes candyfloss for the local children so they are not scared of her.
Tiamat now wants to raise awareness of HIV after being diagnosed with it - along with other health problems.

"I want to raise awareness and erase the stigma. There is so much stigma out there about being HIV positive.
"I think humans need to be nicer to one another and really just accept each other for what they are."
Tiamat did not use a doctor for the body modifications and instead turned to a body modification artist. She has spent around $60,000 so far (£45k).