Is there any way I can modify the mesh of a Skinned Mesh?

Unity Engine
1

Is there any way, or workaround, to do some vertex manipulation on the mesh of a rigged character, without affecting the shared mesh?

2

^Was already answered,sorry!

In short: Instantiate the shared mesh, and switch the current skinned shared mesh with it. (hint hint totally works!)

var mesh : Mesh  = Instantiate(GetComponent(SkinnedMeshRenderer).sharedMesh);
GetComponent(SkinnedMeshRenderer).sharedMesh = mesh;

It only affects the mesh containing the script AND everything goes back to normal after I stop playing the game.