Elton John’s penchant for flamboyant fashion has taken a decidedly personal turn. The musician has recently been seen sporting jewellery crafted from his own removed kneecaps, following a double knee replacement surgery in 2024.
John revealed in a documentary short, “Touched By Gold,” that he requested to retain his patellae – the bones covering the knee joint – after they were surgically removed. “When I had my kneecaps removed, the left one first and then the right, I asked my surgeon if I could keep the kneecaps, which he was rather startled about,” he recalled, according to reports from E! Online. His surgeon reportedly told him he had “the worst knees he’s ever operated on.”
Working with jewellery designer Theo Fennell, John transformed the bones into a necklace and a brooch. Fennell detailed the process, explaining that the kneecaps were first “baked” to dry them out, making them workable for jewellery creation, according to Yahoo News. The necklace chain, John noted, was “brilliantly” made from bones by Fennell, and the back of the pendant features a Latin phrase translating to “I will no longer bow to any man.”
While unusual, John’s decision highlights a broader, if less publicly discussed, practice: the keeping of removed body parts. Many individuals retain sentimental items like baby teeth, while social media platforms showcase stories of people preserving removed tonsils, adenoids, or even placentas. However, medical professionals caution that handling human tissue carries inherent risks.
Typically, tissue removed during surgery is sent for pathological testing to confirm diagnoses and check for disease. Following analysis, it is classified as clinical waste and disposed of safely due to potential biological hazards. It is becoming increasingly uncommon for patients to retain surgically removed tissue.
Healthcare workers handling unfixed tissue – tissue not preserved with chemicals – face potential exposure to blood-borne viruses like hepatitis or HIV, particularly when using needles or sharp instruments. Other pathogens, such as respiratory microbes present in lung tissue, can also pose a risk.
The umbilical stump, often kept by parents after birth, presents a different set of concerns. If not kept clean and dry, it can become infected with omphalitis, an inflammation of the stump.
Perhaps the most debated practice is placentophagy – the consumption of the placenta after childbirth. Proponents believe the placenta contains nutrients beneficial for postpartum recovery, citing the transfer of nutrients like calcium to the developing foetus during pregnancy. However, most nutrients are transferred to the foetus before birth. Scientific evidence supporting the benefits of placentophagy remains limited, with nutrients readily available through a balanced diet.
The practice also carries potential health risks. The placenta contains elevated levels of oestrogen, which can increase the risk of thromboembolism, the formation of blood clots. The placenta acts as a filter during pregnancy, accumulating heavy metals and other ions, potentially resulting in higher concentrations than found elsewhere in the body. In 2017, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigated a case of a baby experiencing repeated infections traced to contaminated placenta capsules, highlighting the risk of bacterial exposure even with encapsulation processes.
While some animals consume their placentas post-birth to eliminate evidence of predation and reclaim nutrients, the medical benefits for humans remain uncertain, and the risks are increasingly understood. Whether transformed into jewellery, preserved as a keepsake, or consumed for perceived health benefits, human tissue, once separated from the body, presents a complex intersection of personal sentiment, medical safety, and biological considerations.
