Why Are Dimples So Cute?

While thousands of people shell out millions of dollars to have unsightly dimples removed from their butts, others are actually paying to have them put in their faces.

Dimples, said to be nature’s most appealing defect, is possible through cosmetic surgery, and its popularity is growing.

“I’ve probably done a couple of hundred dimples in the last two years,” says Dr. Gal Aharonov, a board certified facial plastic surgeon with a private practice in Beverly Hills.

“People will fly in from all over the world for it. There’s a certain segment of the population that’s always been fascinated with dimples.”

Dimple- platies are advertised worldwide, but following an episode of the television show, “The Doctors” dimple fabrication they are the rage on the net.

I admit falling for Bollywood star Priety Zinta’s beautiful dimple and now celebrities like Carey Mulligan have taken up instant dimples.

Dimples may become the next star-fueled trend de jour suggests Diane Mapes, author of “How to Date in a Post-Dating World.

“People usually see it on somebody else and then they want it. It’s an imitative type of thing,” Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Richard Ellenbogen told Maples, “They’re trying to look like some celebrity or model they think is attractive.”

“All sorts of people get them,” he says. “My 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.”

Why Are Dimples So Attractive?

Aharonov said 65 percent of dimple seekers were woman, almost all seeking cheek dimples. Men sometimes ask for a chin dimple or cleft.

Why would people pay $2200 to $5500, depending on the number, whether chin or cheek and the patient’s geographical location?

“One possibility is because it’s associated with youth,” says Stephen Franzoi, professor of psychology at Marquette University in Milwaukee. “Having dimples would enhance your perception of youthfulness and enhance people’s judgments of your attractiveness.”

There’s also something about having a pair of matching dents that appeals to people on a deeper level, he says.

“What that does is increase the perception of symmetry in your face,” says Franzoi.“There’s a lot of research that faces that a symmetrical are judged to be more attractive than faces that are asymmetrical.”

Dr. Aharonov has another explanation.

“I think part of it is the dynamic nature of dimples” he says. “One second they’re there, the next second they’re not. I think humans — animals, in general — like things that grab your attention. We like things that are shiny, that sparkle. It’s like playing peek-a-boo with a kid.”

Anna Garcia, a 23-year-old insurance agent from Mammoth Lake, California grew up loving the look because of her mother.

“When somebody smiles and they have dimples, it makes their smile so much more beautiful. It adds that little twinkle. I’ve always wanted them” she said. Anna and her sister both had a dimple-plasties done by Dr. Aharonov.

Dimples through the decades

Commonly inherited, dimples are caused by a a small adhesion where the skin is attached to the muscle said Maples. They are revered in some cultures to signify luck or fertility the surgery is not new.

Although, it is now far more sophisticated, artificial dimples via a “specially designed knife … a tiny, keen-edged scoop, and a very fine needle” was touted as early as 1896 in the New York Herald.

In 1936, a New York Isabella Gilbert invented a “dimple machine,” a wire frame that people strapped onto their face at night in order to wake up with a pair of dazzling dents.

“It’s done in the office under local anesthetic and takes about ten minutes,” says Aharonov. “There’s no outside incision — everything’s done on the inside of the mouth.”

Healing can take anywhere from a week to a month, he says, although the dimple itself will take about three weeks to “fall out.” It will appear at all times until it fully heals, after that it will only appear when the person smiles, like a natural dimple.

While Dr Arahanov’s business may be booming, but Dr. Ellenbogen, who says he’s been performing dimple-plasties for 30 years, says it’s not a particularly common request.

“I get maybe four requests a year and three of the four I talk out if it because they’re doing it for the wrong reason,” he says. “Some people think it will make their face look thinner.”

Manhattan plastic surgeon Alan Matarasso, the spokesperson for the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, said its fairly common.

“Most of the time, people are looking for a more chiseled, angular face,” he says. “They express that desire by saying they want dimples” he said.

Of course, some go for a dimple-ectomy.

Danielle Menillo, a 32-year-old legal assistant from Seattle has hated hers since childhood. She describes thm as craters that are annoying and sometimes hurt.

“I feel like I’m not taken seriously because of the dimples” she said.

Read the original article from msnbc health.