Man who ‘transformed himself into a lizard’ reveals he could ‘taste and smell his own tongue’ when getting it surgically forked

A man has revealed how he transformed himself into a lizard by covering himself in green tattoos and splitting his tongue in half. 

Erik Sprague, from Texas, who is also known as Lizard Man, joined Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond on This Morning to speak about his transformation, saying he  got his tongue surgically forked in the 90’s.

The 50-year-old revealed he could taste and smell his own burning flesh as the laser went through his tongue and he started ‘hallucinated’ and ‘vomiting’ from the pain of getting implants in his forehead. 

Erik has spent over three decades turning himself into a reptile after he became ‘obsessed’ with shows like Godzilla. 

Speaking on the ITV show on Friday, he said: ‘I became a fan of the way reptiles cross all cultures and history, no matter where you go there is either a tail of a lizard man or a reptilian.

‘You have the serpent in the garden of Eden, reptiles occupy a very special place in human consciousness and as an artist it was something that I felt like I could exploit.’

Speaking about getting his tongue lasered to resemble that of a lizards he revealed he ‘designed the procedure.’

Erik explained: ‘The doctor who did it wanted to do it on me as a guinea pig, this was back in 1997, at the time he only charged me the cost of the use of his surgical theatre, which was $600 at the time.

‘My tongue being split wasn’t actually that painful because they gave me a shot of Lidocaine [local anaesthetic].

‘What I found interesting was I could taste and smell my own burning tongue as the laser went through it. The swelling was so severe it took about a week for the swelling to go down, and I couldn’t speak or eat normally. 

‘This is my legacy now, in the body modification community I have established this procedure and have helped move it forward.’

Erik also got his teeth filed down to points and admitted he had to re-learn how to speak like himself again with a speech pathologist after the procedure left him with a lisp. 

The Lizard Man also got five implants inserted across his forehead to create rigid bumps. 

Speaking about getting his tongue lasered to resemble that of a lizards he revealed he ‘designed the procedure’

Erik, who is also known as Lizard Man, joined Dermot O’Leary and Alison hammond on This Morning, saying he got his tongue surgically forked in the 90’s

The 50-year-old revealed he could taste and smell his own burning flesh as the laser went through his tongue and he started ‘hallucinated’ and ‘vomiting’ from the pain of getting implants in his forehead

Erik said becoming Lizard Man was more of a ‘pipe dream’ but now it has given him a career

He’s spent almost 700 hours being tattooed, had his teeth filed into fangs and had implants to give him horns he’s the Lizard Man

He said: ‘The procedure took about six hours, it was done without anaesthetic and as a result it was the only time in my life that I vomited and hallucinated and a result of pain. You have got to suffer for your art.’ 

Erik said becoming Lizard Man was more of a ‘pipe dream’ but now it has given him a career. 

He said: ‘Things came together about the mid 90’s, I ended up joining the circus for a couple of years, then going solo, I hosted music tours for bands like SlipKnot. 

‘I have travelled to Fringe festivals around the world, it has changed my life, it has given me the life that I lead and I am very thankful for it.’

Speaking about the only downsides about being Lizard Man he said sometimes the negative comments can get to him.

He said: ‘Sometimes I’m going to have a bad day, and if I think I can’t meet the negativity with positivity then I will want to stay home.

‘I also feel I am in a position where people remember when they meet me but it’s hard for me to remember everybody I meet, so it’s on me to always have a good interaction, I feel like there is a bit of pressure there.’