The dimples on the cheeks are an anatomical feature related to the zygomatic muscle as well as the risorius muscle. Indeed, the zygomatic, this facial muscle that connects the cheekbone to the corner of the lips, is activated every time a person smiles. And when this zygomatic muscle is shorter than normal, when the person laughs or smiles, it will create a small hollow in the cheek. These dimples bring a certain charm to the person.

The dimple that appears in the middle of the chin is, in turn, created by a separation between the muscle bundles of the chin, those of the mentalis muscle. the mental muscle (in Latin) has the function of raising the chin as well as the lower lip.

Finally, you should know that to produce the expression on a face, a muscle never works in isolation, but that it always requires the action of other muscle groups, very often close, which will complete this expression. In total, seventeen facial muscles are involved in smiling.

This small natural indentation of the skin, a sort of indentation known as the “dimple”, appears in a specific part of the human body, on the face, and in particular on the cheeks or the chin. Physiologically, the dimples on the cheeks are thought to be caused by variations in the structure of the facial muscle called the zygomatic. The formation of dimples is explained more precisely by the presence of a double zygomatic muscle, or more bifid. This large zygomatic thus represents one of the most important structures involved in facial expressions.

More precisely still, it is a small muscle called risorius, the smile muscle, unique to humans, which is responsible for the formation of dimples on the cheeks. Indeed, its action, separated from that of the zygomatic major, creates in some people such charming dimples. The risorius muscle is thus a small, flat, inconstant muscle of the cheek. Variable in size, it is located at the corner of the lips. Thus, this small bundle of the Pleaucien muscle which attaches to the corners of the lips contributes to the expression of laughter.

The smile is due to the movement of the muscles of the face, the skin muscles also called muscles of expression and mimicry. These superficial muscles are located under the skin. They have three peculiarities: all have at least one cutaneous insertion, in the skin that they mobilize; in addition, they are grouped around the orifices of the face which they enlarge; finally, all are controlled by the facial nerve, the seventh pair of cranial nerves. In fact, the zygomatic muscles, which lift the lips, are the effectors of laughter by attracting and raising the corners of the lips.

A 2019 article published in the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, devoted to the prevalence of the presence of a large bifid zygomatic muscle, which may explain the formation of dimples on the cheeks, was based on the analysis of seven studies. His findings indicate that the existence of a bifid zygomatic muscle is preeminent in the subgroup of Americans, where it was present at 34%. Then followed the group of Asians for whom the bifid zygomatic muscle is present at 27%, and finally the subgroup of Europeans, where it was only present in 12% of individuals.

There is a peculiarity of the cheek dimple, which, without being in fact an anomaly or a pathology, is specific to some people: it is the possibility of having only one dimple, on one side of the face. , therefore on one of the two cheeks only. Apart from this specificity, there is no pathology of the dimple, which is indeed a simple anatomical consequence of the functioning and size of certain muscles of the face.

The purpose of dimple surgery is to create small hollows in the cheeks when the person smiles. If some people have inherited this peculiarity, others, in fact, sometimes wish to create one artificially by means of a cosmetic surgery operation.

This intervention is performed under local anesthesia, on an outpatient basis. Its duration is short, it takes place in barely half an hour. It leaves no scar. The operation will consist, for the surgeon, to go through the inside of the mouth and to shorten the zygomatic muscle on a tiny surface. This will cause an adhesion between the skin and the lining of the cheeks. And so, a little hollow will form which will be visible when you smile. During the fifteen days following the operation, the dimples will be very marked, then they will not be visible until the person smiles.

A prescription of antibiotics and mouthwashes will be necessary during the five days following the operation, in order to prevent any risk of infection. Very natural, the result will be visible after a month: invisible at rest, the dimples, formed by the appearance of a hollow, will appear as soon as the person laughs or smiles. However, it should be borne in mind that this surgery is not definitive, the cheek muscle being able to return to its initial position quite quickly, causing the artificially created dimples to disappear. In addition, the financial cost of such a cosmetic surgery operation is high, ranging from around 1500 to over 2000 €.

Dimples on the cheeks are often considered a symbol of charm: thus, drawing more attention to the face, they make the person who has them attractive. According to the Encyclopedia of the School of Gestures, the right cheek is the symbol of courage, and the right dimple’s sense of humor will be ironic. The sense of humor of the left dimple will, for its part, be imbued with a certain tenderness, and will also mark a tendency to smile rather than to laugh. Finally, a dimple present on both cheeks would mean that the person wearing them is very good audience, and quick to laugh easily. Some sources also seem to indicate that in the past, particularly in England, dimples were seen as the imprint of God’s finger on a newborn baby’s cheek. And so, in some countries, dimples are also seen as a sign of luck and fertility.

The chin dimples are said to be symbols of strength of character. One of the most iconic bearers of such a dimple in the middle of the chin was the famous Hollywood actor, Kirk Douglas, who died in 2020 at the age of 103. For everyday Le Monde, this dimple on the chin present in this great actor was “like the sign of the wounds and mutilations which afflict the characters which he interpreted throughout a career which spans all the second half of the XXth century”.

Finally, many allusions to dimples sow the rich path of literary history. Thus, the Scottish writer Walter Scott, translated by Alexander Dumas in 1820, wrote, in Ivanhoe : “A barely suppressed smile drew two dimples on a face whose usual expression was that of melancholy and contemplation”. As for Elsa Triolet, writer and first woman to obtain the Goncourt Prize, she gave in The first hitch costs two hundred francs, book published in 1944, a strong sense of this peculiarity of the face: “Juliette thanked with that dignified little air she had, and the dimple that appeared when she smiled made her thank you more precious”.