TikTok Says You Can "Give" Yourself Dimples, But Please Don't

DIY DIMPLESTikTok Says You Can "Give" Yourself Dimples, But Please Don'tThis eyebrow-raising DIY technique is not what it seems. 

By Sara Miranda

March 3, 2022

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Where there's a will, TikTok's beauty community will find a way. And what have the app's users been asking for lately, you ask? How to get dimples — DIY, of course. A TikTok user by the name of @arwaakhu — also known as Arwa — offered a solution to creating the facial indentations on yourself… no genetics required. 

To start, Arwa sinks one finger into each cheekbone for 30 seconds and twists it back and forth in a circular motion. Soon after, she repeats the process with what appear to be lip pencils. The video concludes with Arwa softly grinning at the camera while showing off her newly made dimples. If you're curious to see her dimple-making process from start to finish, you can take a look at Arwa's dimple hack video right here.    

Meet the experts:

• Melanie Palm, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist and fellowship-trained dermatologic cosmetic surgeon based in San Diego, California.
• Tracy Evans, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist based in San Francisco.
• Azadeh Shirazi, M.D., is a board-certified dermatologist based in La Jolla, California.

But is it foolproof? According to San Diego-based board-certified dermatologist Melanie Palm, M.D., not entirely. Dr. Palm explains that dimples are "categorized as a unique facial trait," which means "there is really not a way to non-invasively or minimally invasively achieve this result." 

Basically, you can really only "get" dimples if you were born with them. You could go the surgical route, which Dr. Palm says would involve "tacking or separating soft tissue, muscle, and connective tissue," but even those results wouldn't compare to the natural look.

When it comes to the TikTok technique, Dr. Palm predicts that any artificial dimples would "cause a temporary effect at best." Tracy Evans, M.D., a San Francisco-based board-certified dermatologist agrees with and finds that the method "is completely false." 

What's more, Dr. Evans also believes that the only way you can really "get" dimples is via genes or surgery. Azadeh Shirazi, M.D., a board-certified dermatologist in La Jolla, California, confirms this. Dr. Shirazi says dimples can closely be achieved through a dimpleplasty, a 30-minute procedure "to create dimples on the cheeks." 

After a local anesthetic is injected to numb the lower half of the face, Dr. Shrazi tells Allure that "a small incision of about two centimeters is made from the inside of a patient's cheek to avoid scarring on the outer skin." The incision is followed by removing a part of the cheek muscle, but "the remaining muscle [is still] attached to the underside of the skin." 

Those who pursue this surgery typically encounter a few side effects, including swelling and bruising. "The dimple may appear deeper before it settles to look more natural after three to six months," Dr. Shirazi explains.

So basically, it is humanly impossible to create dimples with just the help of some lip pencils. Make what you will of this TikTok hack, but as Dr. Palm,  Dr. Evans, and Dr. Shirazi have expressed, there isn't really a way to attain dimples on the fly. You've either got them, or you don't. 

More on TikTok:

• 1920s Beauty Is All Over TikTok, But Don't Shave Your Eyebrows Just Yet
• TikTok's Viral "Bowl Method" for Curly Hair Takes Forever to Do — Is It Worth It?
• Surprise! The Tanning Nasal Sprays Going Viral on TikTok Are Not Safe

Now, TikTok star Loren Gray takes you through her 10-minute beauty routine:

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Sara is a freelance writer who covers beauty stories by way of Chicago. Her bylines appear in Allure, Bustle, Coveteur, HelloGiggles, and more. Beside writing about all things beauty, she loves going to art galleries, photographing her travels, looking for the best bubble tea, and taking long walks down the... Read moreContributor

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KeywordsdimplesTikTokbeauty hackDIYDIY beautyskinNewsservicedermatologists