The desire to have dimples has been growing in popularity in my practice for years.
Regardless of ethnic background and cultural differences, there seems to be a universal
appreciation of the attractiveness of cheek dimples.
I’ll discuss how I help a wide range of people who come from around the world have
a procedure called dimpleplasty and what the recovery process is like.
I’m Dr Amiya Prasad.
I’m a Board Certified Cosmetic Surgeon and Fellowship Trained Oculofacial Plastic and
Reconstructive Surgeon.
I’ve been in practice in Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years.
I became well known for dimpleplasty, since relatively few cosmetic and plastic surgeons
offer this procedure or perform it often enough to make it a routinely performed procedure
in their practice.
We have even featured in the media for this procedure which to some degree driven by some
popular celebrities whose dimples inspire people to want the same.
In addition, many of my patients relate stories about their families where certain family
members had dimples and received praise for them in a way which made the patient focus
on having dimples themselves.
Natural dimples actually occur due to a defect in a muscle in the cheek called the buccinator
muscle.
When a person with this defect smiles, there is dimple.
Natural dimples can be shallow to deep as well as symmetric or asymmetric.
In terms of the dimpleplasty procedure, I take measurements from the corner of the mouth
to the cheek to determine what I call “the sweet spot “for dimple placement.
Anatomically, I try to create a dimple where would have occurred naturally.
In fact, there is actually a limited zone where a dimple can be most effectively placed.
Even though I try to place the dimples as symmetrically as possible, I show my patients
how the human face is naturally asymmetric.
I usually have patients place something on the cheek to press inward to see where the
dimples will be placed, and how they will look when smiling.
Once we’ve agreed on the planned placement, we do the procedure.
The procedure is typically done from the inside of the cheek although an outside approach
my ab necessary in some situations.
I create a small opening inside cheek and I connect the buccinator muscle to the cheek
skin with a suture.This results in an indentation which confirms a successful connection has
been made.
In terms of the healing process afterwards, there are two important aspects of dimpleplasty
healing.
The first is that this procedure is done from the inside of the mouth, which naturally has
a lot of bacteria.
I discuss with patients some precautions about food and oral hygiene..
The second aspect to be aware of is the presence of a visible dimple at rest.
Patients who have this procedure understand that a temporary indentation in the skin will
be visible even when not smiling, during the healing the process of this surgery.
Interestingly, most patients don’t have any issue with this.
As healing progresses, the presence of the indentation diminishes so that the dimple
appear more with smiling than at rest.
The presence of indentations at rest can be present for several months after surgery.
Variables which affect the depth and more obvious appearance include skin thickness,
skin type, age, facial fat volume and surrounding bone structure.
Dimpleplasty is an outpatient procedure done with local anesthesia, so recovery is quick.
Patients normally return to work a few days after the procedure.
The appearance of dimples become stable as the temporary indentation is no longer visible
when the face is at rest.
Having a strong connection between the skin and muscle is key for long lasting dimples.
Maintaining long lasting dimples has some relationship to weight gain since an increase
in fat volume in the cheeks can cause dimples to become less prominent and even no longer
visible.
Sometimes dimpleplasty needs to be revised if the depth of the dimple becomes too shallow
to the point where the dimple doesn’t appear with smiling.
Dimpleplasty can dramatically accentuate your smile, and enhance your facial features, without
otherwise altering your facial characteristics.
I can say that many dimple patients are highly motivated and are extremely happy with their
results.
I hope you found this information helpful...thank you for your question.