![\"\"](\"http:\/\/chicagopressrelease.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/dimple_surgery-300x225.jpg\" "\\"dimple_surgery\\"")
While thousands of people shell out millions of dollars to have unsightly dimples removed from their derrieres, others are actually paying to have the more charming variety put in their faces.<\/p>\nWhile thousands of people shell out millions of dollars to have unsightly dimples removed from their derrieres, others are actually paying to have the more charming variety put in their faces.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s right. Dimples \u2014 nature\u2019s most appealing defect \u2014 are available through cosmetic surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve probably done a couple of hundred dimples in the last two years,\u201d says Dr. Gal Aharonov, a board certified facial plastic surgeon with a private practice in Beverly Hills. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPeople will fly in from all over the world for it. There\u2019s a certain segment of the population that\u2019s always been fascinated with dimples.\u201d<\/p>\n That little twinkle<\/strong><\/p>\n Anna Garcia, a 23-year-old insurance agent and dimple devotee from Mammoth Lake, Calif., says she grew up loving the look because of her mom.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mom has natural dimples and ever since I was little, I was amazed by them,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen somebody smiles and they have dimples, it makes their smile so much more beautiful. It adds that little twinkle. I\u2019ve always wanted them.\u201d<\/p>\n Garcia recently had one dimple created in her left cheek (she already has a small dimple on her right) while her sister, age 25, had two put in (one on each side).<\/p>\n There are no statistics on how many dimple-plasties are performed each year, but the dimple fabrication procedure has recently popped up on beauty forums, consumer sites and on an episode of the television show, \u201cThe Doctors.\u201d<\/p>\n Considering the new crop of adorable celebrities with indentations \u2014 such as Carey Mulligan, who recently snagged a best actress Oscar nomination for \u201cAn Education\u201d \u2014 instant dimples may even become the next star-fueled trend de jour.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople usually see it on somebody else and then they want it. It\u2019s an imitative type of thing,\u201d says Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, a board certified cosmetic plastic surgeon also practicing in Beverly Hills. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to look like some celebrity or model they think is attractive.\u201d<\/p>\n Aharonov, who performed the procedure on the Garcia sisters, says the dimple seekers he encounters are usually 65 percent women (almost all of whom request cheek dimples) and 35 percent men (who sometimes ask for a chin dimple or cleft). After that, the dimple demographic is mixed.<\/p>\n \u201cAll sorts of people get them,\u201d he says. \u201cMy patients are young and old and from all different types of socioeconomic, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The people who come in here just love them.\u201d<\/p>\n Dimples through the decades<\/strong><\/strong>Commonly inherited, dimples are caused by a defect in the cheek muscle, a small adhesion where the skin is attached to the muscle.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s a tiny defect that\u2019s been revered (some cultures believe a dimple signifies luck or fertility) \u2014 and, yes, recreated \u2014 for decades.<\/p>\n A procedure for artificial dimples via a \u201cspecially designed knife \u2026 a tiny, keen-edged scoop, and a very fine needle\u201d was touted as early as 1896 in the New York Herald<\/a>. In 1936, a New York woman by the name of Isabella Gilbert even came up with a \u201cdimple machine,\u201d<\/a> a wire frame that people strapped onto their face at night in order to wake up with a pair of dazzling dents.<\/p>\n Today, the procedure \u2014 which can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000, depending on the number, the variety (chin or cheek) and the patient\u2019s geographical location \u2014 is much more sophisticated.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s done in the office under local anesthetic and takes about ten minutes,\u201d says Aharonov. \u201cThere\u2019s no outside incision \u2014 everything\u2019s done on the inside of the mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n Healing can take anywhere from a week to a month, he says, although the dimple itself will take about three weeks to \u201cfall out.\u201d It will appear at all times until it fully heals, after that it will only appear when the person smiles, like a natural dimple.<\/p>\n Garcia, who got her dimple put in on a Saturday, says she was back at work the following Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was easier than going to the dentist,\u201d she says. \u201cYou do feel a little tugging when he\u2019s working on it, but no pain. I did have some minor swelling and had to be careful when I chewed, but we had lunch right after we left.\u201d<\/p>\n Digging deeper<\/strong><\/p>\n Dimples are appealing for a number of reasons.<\/p>\n \u201cOne possibility is because it\u2019s associated with youth,\u201d says Stephen Franzoi, professor of psychology at Marquette University in Milwaukee. \u201cHaving dimples would enhance your perception of youthfulness and enhance people\u2019s judgments of your attractiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s also something about having a pair of matching dents that appeals to people on a deeper level, he says.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat that does is increase the perception of symmetry in your face,\u201d says Franzoi. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of research that faces that a symmetrical are judged to be more attractive than faces that are asymmetrical.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Aharonov has another explanation.<\/p>\n \u201cI think part of it is the dynamic nature of dimples,\u201d he says. \u201cOne second they\u2019re there, the next second they\u2019re not. I think humans \u2014 animals, in general \u2014 like things that grab your attention. We like things that are shiny, that sparkle. It\u2019s like playing peek-a-boo with a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Ellenbogen, who says he\u2019s been performing dimple-plasties for 30 years, says it\u2019s not a particularly common request.<\/p>\n \u201cI get maybe four requests a year and three of the four I talk out if it because they\u2019re doing it for the wrong reason,\u201d he says. \u201cSome people think it will make their face look thinner.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Alan Matarasso, a Manhattan board certified plastic surgeon and spokesperson for the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, says this kind of \u201cdimple disconnect\u201d is fairly common.<\/p>\n \u201cMost of the time, people are looking for a more chiseled, angular face,\u201d he says. \u201cThey express that desire by saying they want dimples.\u201d<\/p>\n The downside of dimples<\/strong><\/strong>Of course, not everyone is a diehard dimple fan.<\/p>\n \u201cI have two big dimples, one on each side, and I\u2019ve hated the darn things since I was little,\u201d says Danielle Menillo, a 32-year-old legal assistant from Seattle. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m not taken seriously because of the dimples.\u201d<\/p>\n Menillo\u2019s deep dimples \u2014 which she refers to as \u201ccraters\u201d \u2014 aren\u2019t just annoying, though. They sometimes hurt.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel them pull,\u201d she says. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t hurt a tremendous amount but sometimes I have to hold my face when I laugh or smile.\u201d<\/p>\n Menillo says she asked a doctor to remove them when she was six (she\u2019d grown tired of strangers pinching her cheeks), but was told that was impossible.<\/p>\n Today, though, a dimple-ectomy is actually doable.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can get rid of them now,\u201d says Dr. Ellenbogen. \u201cThere are all sorts of new injections and fat grafting techniques. You can use an instrument called a pickle fork under the skin to break the connection that makes the dimple and then inject fat into that area.\u201d<\/p>\n For some, though, messing with Mother Nature\u2019s \u201cfingerprint\u201d is truly pushing the ego envelope.<\/p>\n \u201cCosmetic dimples? That\u2019s bizarre,\u201d says Roma Edmundson, a 36-year-old hair stylist from Seattle, who has not one, not two, but three natural dimples. \u201cI\u2019m more of a natural person, so it seems weird to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Diane Mapes<\/em><\/a> is a Seattle freelance writer and author of “<\/em>How to Date in a Post-Dating World<\/em><\/a>.” <\/em><\/p>\n Read the original article from msnbc health<\/a>.<\/p>\n Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services<\/a><\/p>\n While thousands of people shell out millions of dollars to have unsightly dimples removed from their derrieres, others are actually paying to have the more charming variety put in their faces. That\u2019s right. Dimples \u2014 nature\u2019s most appealing defect \u2014 are available through cosmetic surgery. \u201cI\u2019ve probably done a couple of hundred dimples in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-384382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384382\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/img><\/a>
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