A new beauty trend is taking over social media, popular among people who want to have natural dimples like stars like Gabrielle Union, Miranda Kerr or Mario Lopez.
Some social media users try to achieve the look with a pinhole device. On TikTok, the hashtag #dimplemakers has more than 61 million views, and the devices have sold out on Etsy and similar online stores.
dr. Michael K. Obeng, a board-certified plastic surgeon and member of PEOPLE’s Health Squad, spoke with PEOPLE about the social media trend and what to know about the devices.
What are dimple makers?
Dimple makers are small devices with two balls on each end of a wire, similar in shape to tweezers. They are placed on both sides of the mouth so that the balls squeeze the inner and outer cheeks. The devices were sold in several online stores for less than $20.
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How do they work?
Dimple makers create a dimple by compressing the skin and under the fatty tissue on the cheek.
“This is a basic cheek tuck,” explains Obeng. “And if you do that for a long time, it causes ischemia, it causes the area to be deprived of blood flow and you end up with scar tissue. That’s what causes the dimple.”
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Are hole punchers safe?
“In my opinion, I think it’s safe. You won’t hurt anything. You can potentially hit a nerve, but no one is going to put something on the nerve where it hurts,” explains Obeng, likening it to hitting the funny bone. “If you put it on a nerve, it will hurt immediately. That way you will know how to move the hole puncher.”
Obeng emphasizes that he does not believe the devices can cause much harm.
“I have nothing against it,” he adds. “And it’s a fad, it’s a trend. Maybe it will last, maybe it won’t.”
Are the results permanent?
“The results aren’t permanent and it also doesn’t work for everyone,” says Obeng. “It might work for certain people and it might not work for some people. It depends on how long you leave it on and how thick your cheeks are. If you have fat cheeks, it won’t work.”
Obeng notes that because the results are temporary, he’s seen patients get dimples pierced instead — much like Blac Chyna, who has been vocal in the past about how she “encouraged” her dimples to appear with piercings.
“Just get the piercing, keep it for about three months. Once you take it out, the scar tissue created will cause a dimple and I think most people will keep it,” says Obeng, joking that it’s much cheaper than getting dimples made with a surgical procedure called dipleplasty.
What is dimpleplasty?
Dimpling is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that can create natural dimples on the chin or cheeks that appear when a person smiles.
The $1,550 procedure is permanent and takes about 30 minutes. Surgeons make an incision inside the mouth in the cheek muscle, which “is then attached to the lower surface of the skin so that dimples are visible after animation but not when the face is relaxed,” Dr. Wright Jones, plastic surgeon and founder of Muse Plastic Surgery, said. previously to PEOPLE.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education