Blessed are those who have dimples, some cultures say. Others simply feel obliged to smile back when a dimple flashes at them. The lucky some have two, the less lucky have one, and the others, well, are just different. Still, some people crave them.

“I wanted a dimple for the longest time,” a patient told Dr. Karthik. “As a child, I stood for hours in front of a mirror with the blunt end of a pencil poking into my cheek.” Nothing happened. Her chubby cheek bounced right back to being un-dimpled when the pencil was removed.

Sometimes, little kids have dimples which disappear as they grow older. This is because muscles lengthen with age.

Dimple creation is, in truth is a very popular procedure. It can be done under local aesthesia. In fact, many celebrities go for it as that little indentation in the cheeks is truly looks enhancing. Sharmila Tagore, the actress in Bollywood was known for her dimples. They were so deep that they appeared even when she talked. Her smile blew minds away.

In more recent times, the American serial Laguna Beach for teens had a lot of dimples happening on it. Most of them were created.

The procedure:

It takes around 30 minutes to make a dimple on the cheek.

“We do it using local aesthesia by making a small incision on the inside of the cheek. Nothing will be visible on the outside. No scar, no blemish. Only a beautiful dimple,” Dr. Karthik says.

He uses a punch biopsy equipment which is placed alongside the inner cheek. It is kept in line with where the dimple is to be located.

“I mark the exact spot before getting the instrument into a patient’s mouth. It is not very big, so the discomfort is almost negligible. Making small circles to cut through the inner cheek and cheek muscle I remove a small piece of circular tissue, leaving the skin intact. I then close the gap with absorbable stitches, and tie a surgical knot.” Presto! Dimple is created.

Within a few days, or a couple of weeks the swelling subsides, and the sutures dissolve. The healing depends on an individual body’s ability to bounce back. Once healed, the skin will look exactly as it did earlier. Once the internal scar heals, your dimple will appear. Normal, natural and beautiful.

Some people want to go all the way and get both cheeks dimpled. It is a matter of choice, and is completely possible too. Even the size of the dimple is pre-determined.

“One of my patients wanted ‘just a hint’ of a dimple on her left cheek. She believed if she had it she would get a handsome husband. It is an interesting story, yes, but I wonder how a dimple can determine a husband’s looks,” Dr. Karthik wonders.