Having a chin or cheek dimple is usually genetic and can be loved and adored, or unwanted. People who are not interested in their dimples will come to me, and using a subcision technique and dermal fillers such as JUVÉDERM® and Restylane® at my plastic surgery practice in Toronto, the cleft, or dimple, can be corrected.
It is equally common to have patients, both men and women, come and request the creation of a dimple.
Why Dimpleplasty?
In my 18 years of experience as a plastic surgeon in Toronto, many of the requests for dimple plastic surgery have come from patients who are lacking dimples but whose family’s “trademark” is to have 1 or 2 dimples.
Dimples, and the angular look created by buccal fat pad removal, are often considered very sexy.
Think of these ladies: Duchess Catherine (Kate) Middleton of England, Audrey Tautou from the movie Amélie, Miranda Kerr, Cameron Diaz, and many more!
Let’s not forget the men, too. Many handsome dudes have dimples: Josh Holloway, Brad Pitt, Adam Levine, Usher, Bruno Mars, Mario Lopez, Orlando Bloom, Drake, etc.
Creating a Dimple
What causes a dimple? Simply, a dimple is a small attachment between the cheek muscle, called the buccinator, and the overlying skin. When the muscle contracts, it pulls on the skin and the dimple deepens with the muscle animation.
The surgical creation of a dimple, or dimpleplasty, is a relatively simple 45-minute in-office procedure, done under local anesthesia. The small incision is just a few millimeters and is intraoral, in the mucosa, hence invisible. The plastic surgeon removes a small amount of tissue and makes a small stitch to create the indentation.
The patient is awake and will participate in the planning of the shape and location of the dimple. Dimples can be either round or more linear, soft or more accentuated, depending on the patient’s wish. Most dimples are located where the vertical line from the outer eye meets the horizontal line from the mouth commissure.
How Much Does Dimpleplasty Cost?
This varies slightly, depending on whether the procedure is done under local anesthesia or under general anesthesia when other procedures are done at the same time.
Recovery
I do use 1 to 3 small stitches internally which dissolve over 5 to 7 days. Mild swelling is common for 1 to 2 weeks. Bruises are rare but possible. Most patients return to work within a few days.
To see examples of the dimple results I’ve created, please visit our before-and-after photo gallery.
If you would like to learn more about dimpleplasty or other plastic surgery options at my Toronto practice, please contact us online or call (416) 929-9800.
