Why Dimpleplasty Is Becoming The Permanent Alternative To Temporary Social Media Beauty Hacks
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From anatomy to Instagram culture, explore why dimpleplasty is rising as a permanent beauty choice over temporary hacks
A closer look at the rising trend of dimpleplasty where science, aesthetics, and social media culture intersect to make permanent dimples the new signature smile.
“When I first began offering dimpleplasty nearly a decade ago, the request list was short and often apologetic. I know it sounds silly, Doctor, but my grandmother had the cutest dimples,” says Dr Anmol Chugh, Associate Director & Head, Plastic & Aesthetic Surgery, CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram, Founder, Seena Strong Campaign.
Today, the consultation room feels entirely different. College roommates arrive together with Instagram still playing on their phones; fathers schedule the procedure the same week as their daughters’ rhinoplasty; men in their thirties ask for “the Ronaldo” with the same ease they once reserved for a fade haircut.
In 2023, the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery recorded a 47 percent rise in dimple creation. While the numbers remain small compared to procedures like lip fillers, dimpleplasty has emerged as the fastest-growing individual facial procedure. According to Dr Chugh, this surge reflects a cultural shift rather than a medical one.
What hasn’t changed is anatomy. Dimples are still the result of a genetically determined split in the buccinator muscle, allowing the overlying skin to tether to deeper tissue and form a natural “buttonhole” when one smiles. What has changed is the emotional economy of the face. We now live more on camera than off it. A smile functions simultaneously as a profile picture, résumé header, first impression, and job interview compressed into a few hundred pixels. In that frame, a dimple conveys approachability, youthfulness, and warmth.
Temporary hacks, dimple pens, suction cups, exaggerated facial exercises dominate social media, but they share a common flaw: gravity. The swelling fades, the bruising settles, and the illusion disappears. As Dr Chugh often explains to patients, algorithm-driven culture rewards consistency. A face that looks different on Tuesday than it does on Thursday becomes a liability. Many patients simply want the smile their followers already believe they have.
The procedure itself is deceptively simple: five millimetres, two stitches, fifteen minutes. Yet the margin for regret is just as small. Through an intraoral incision, a tiny portion of mucosa and muscle is removed. An absorbable suture tethers the dermis to the inner cheek, creating a controlled adhesion. When the stitch dissolves after three months, scar tissue maintains the dimple. Overcorrection is intentional; initially, the cheeks appear unnaturally indented. By six weeks, the tension eases. By six months, the dimple appears only with movement, natural, subtle, and permanent.
Social researchers refer to this phenomenon as “permanent filter confidence,” a close cousin of the lipstick effect. In uncertain times, people invest in small but emotionally affirming luxuries. As Dr Chugh notes, the cost of dimpleplasty roughly equivalent to a high-end smartphone buys a feature that will outlast every software update.
The trend also reflects a deeper shift toward bespoke identity. Two decades ago, patients brought celebrity photographs. Today, they arrive with curated mood boards of their own filtered selfies. “I want to look like the best version of me, not someone else,” is the sentence Dr Chugh hears most often. A dimple, in this context, is not a disguise, it is a signature.
Ethically, restraint remains essential. Dr Chugh turns away more patients than he accepts. Dimpleplasty cannot repair relationships or guarantee virality. A mandatory cooling-off period, detailed photo analysis at rest and in motion, and discussions around symmetry are non-negotiable. One dimple can appear charmingly natural; two that are artificially equidistant can expose their surgical origin.
Will the trend fade? Possibly. But the anatomy will not. Once the scar sets, the face owns it for life, a small, permanent rebellion against a disposable culture. In that sense, as Dr Anmol Chugh reflects, dimpleplasty may be the most honest procedure he performs: a fleeting trend etched into muscle, and a reminder that even in an era of seven-second clips, some expressions like a smile are meant to last.
January 07, 2026, 11:04 IST
