Faux freckles, microblading, tinted lips... what's next?!
Dimpleplasty.
You might have heard of cheek or dimple piercings that became popular over the years, but now it's being taken a (drastic) step further.
Yeah, we're also struggling to wrap our heads around it. Dimples are usually seen as adorable, but it's now considered very desirable among millennials. Millennials especially admire stars' trademark dimples so much that they're willing to fork out a lot to get the look.
Read more: Tattooed on freckles? And 4 more tattoo trends taking 2017
How it works
The procedure takes 10–30 minutes and involves making a tiny cut in the skin to create a small depression. What follows is a stitch that pins the underside of the skin down to a deeper layer and holds it in place. When the suture dissolves, permanent scar tissue remains and voila: you have your dimple!
Atlanta-based plastic surgeon, Wright Jones, told the Independent that the main reason for the surgery's popularity is because of the “little downtime, enhancement of facial aesthetics, and lack of need for general anesthesia.”
He also said that requests from millennials for the minimally invasive procedure have almost tripled in the last few years.
Read more: #Hipdips is the new body-positive social media trend – but what is it?
But Jones cautions that although the treatment has little recovery time there are still risks involved which could lead to deformities that are difficult to reverse. However, Health Tourism also explains that natural dimples only show when the person is smiling, but with dimpleplasty the dimple is present all the time.
For those interested in designer cheeks, expect to cough up between $800 (R10,400) and $2,500 (R32,500) depending on the level of difficulty. But despite the cost, people aren't holding back. This woman spent £3,000 (R51 000) to have dimples as deep as Cheryl Coles's.
So what if you decide to have them 'constructed' and want them reversed a few years later? The reversal procedure is not simple and may require anesthesia and dermal fillers, costing you another small fortune.
Another popular method to achieve dimples was invented almost a century ago. According to Buzzfeed, in 1936 a New York woman by the name of Isabella Gilbert invented a dimple machine. All you had to do was press a pair of knobs into your cheeks until you had a fine set of dimples. OUCH. Thanks, but no thanks.
If millennials are simply looking for different ways to enhance the quality of their lives thereby resorting to all kinds of body modification, as suggested by Elite Daily, I doubt paying thousands of rands is worth it for temporary dips in your cheeks. But hey, if you're interested in succumbing to the trend but don't have a bag of cash lying around, there's always the affordable makeup route that just requires some eyeshadow and a makeup brush.
Would you consider dimpleplasty? Share your thoughts with us on Facebook or Twitter.