Thank you for your question.
You submitted a question without a photo but basically, you’re expressing in your question
that you’re concerned about having a crease or a dimple that’s constant after undergoing
dimpleplasty even when you’re not smiling.
And you’re asking how long will it last?
How deep will it be?
And you’ve also expressed that people actually have seen their dimple disappear, surgically
created dimples, after a few months.
So, understanding that these are very reasonable questions that actually come up in our practice
a lot, I can certainly help you with this question.
A little bit of background, I’m a Board-certified cosmetic surgeon and Fellowship-trained oculofacial
plastic and reconstructive surgeon.
I have been in practice in Manhattan and Long Island for over 20 years.
And dimpleplasty has been kind of our interesting niche area that we’ve become well-known
for and we have patients come in from all over and we’ve even been featured in media
for dimpleplasty.
And what’s particularly interesting about dimpleplasty is that essentially, it looks
like a straightforward procedure but there are a lot elements that actually are deceptively
complex and sometimes makes it a little bit less predictable than a lot of cosmetic procedures
and I’ll explain that further.
Basically, a natural dimple occurs because of a defect in a muscle called buccinator
muscle and it allows a little connection to occur between the skin and that muscle so
that when you smile, you get a dimple.
And so what we do with dimpleplasty is from the inside of the mouth, inside the cheek,
we create a connection between the buccinator muscle and the skin.
And there are a few different techniques in how to get this done.
And I‘ve developed a variation of a technique that will, in my hands, usually work pretty
consistently predictably.
But I can certainly tell you that in terms of the first question, part of your question,
how long does the indentation appear when you’re not smiling.
Well, it will, in my hands, for whether someone who has thick skin or thinner skin or whatever
their anatomy is, it will last for several months and it’s one of the first things
I warn people about is that they’re going to have this indentation that even at rest,
it will still be present.
What I find interesting is that this issue has pretty much been not an issue for the
people who are so motivated to have dimples.
Like they’ll understand that that’s part of the process and interestingly, socially,
it doesn’t seem to draw as much attention as you would predict that essentially having
a constant dimple, doesn’t seem to draw that much attention even though I’ve always
been concerned about people being so conscious about it after it’s done.
That being said, it does fade over time so that there’s actually more likely there
will be a natural dimple when you smile.
Now it’s difficult to make it perfect.
It’s difficult to get it exactly symmetric.
It’s difficult to get the both sides being exactly the same depth but nature, already
in human faces, there is relative asymmetry.
Now of course, people point out certain actors and other celebrities and they bring pictures
to show me how beautiful their dimples are and they want the same dimples.
And I just would say that, essentially, these people very often were more likely than not
to be born with these dimples and they’ve made a career out of their appearance because
they are amongst the very fortunate to have greater symmetry and ideal proportions with
the added benefit of dimples.
However, this is something that you have to consider.
You have to consider that dimpleplasty does result in a static constant dimple in the
first several months which fades slowly, that there is a risk that the dimple will disappear
and you will need revision surgery and that there may be some degree of asymmetry but
in the ideal, you want to maximize the symmetry.
And so we’ll try to do everything we can preoperatively to place the dimple, mark it
appropriately and try to anticipate the behavior of the skin.
You know, nature gives us a little bit of room to work and usually staying within that
space which is a relatively small space, we’re able to create some consistent results but
there are certainly patients who I have to do revision procedures or I have to do other
variations to creates dimples which also depends on the internal anatomy of their cheek and
the positioning of the very important structures such as the salivary ducts inside the mouth.
So like I said, it’s deceptively complex but it is certainly a very fulfilling procedure.
People who get these dimples are just thrilled about the results and very often they are
so excited about having dimples and once they get them, they love the results.
Very often, they want them deeper but basically, that’s a balance and as long as we create
a good natural looking dimple, I think we’ve achieved success.
So I think you should meet with doctors who perform dimpleplasty and really express your
concerns.
And if you’re not comfortable with the presence of static dimples for the first few months,
just don’t do it.
I think it’s very important to have that conviction and commitment and to be able to
ride through those first few months and allowing this to evolve.
So again, meet with doctors who perform dimpleplasty and see if this is the right choice for you.
So I hope that was helpful, I wish you the best of luck and thank you for your question.