Across the world, dimples are often associated with beauty, youthfulness, or even good luck. These little indentations in your cheeks—typically inherited from your family—are so desired that some people even seek out plastic surgery to artificially create them.

Having natural dimples on your face depends mainly on your genetics, but other factors can influence whether they stay or fade as you age. If dimples run in your family, there's a good chance you have genetic markers associated with them, and you can find out by taking an AncestryDNA^® + Traits test.

What Are Dimples?

Those little indentations on the cheeks, known as dimples, are caused by a change in a facial muscle that causes a dent to appear in the cheeks. You might have upper cheek dimples or dimples when smiling. Some people have one dimple, while others have them on both cheeks. They're similar to cleft chins, another type of dimple that results in a slight chin indentation. The technical term for dimples is fovea buccalis.

The different types of cheek dimples are categorized depending on where they appear.

• Para-angle: Opposite the angle of the mouth
• Lower para-angle: Below the angle of the mouth; these are the most common type
• Upper para-angle: Above the angle of the mouth

Dimples are typically caused by changes to the zygomaticus major, a facial muscle used to raise the corners of your mouth while smiling. This muscle begins at the zygomatic bone in your cheek and stretches down to the corner of your mouth. It's believed that, for people with dimples, the zygomatic major divides into two muscle bundles, connecting at and below the corner of the mouth. When people with dimples smile, the skin moves over the double zygomaticus major muscle and creates the appearance of a dimple.

Are Dimples Genetic?

Cheek dimples are a common familial trait, and while scientists aren't fully sure of the whys and hows surrounding genetic inheritance, the phenotype of dimples are typically considered an irregular dominant genetic trait. This means that dimples are likely controlled by a single gene, but their presentation is influenced by many other genes. As a result, the inheritance is unpredictable. Even if your parents have dimples, you might not, and conversely, you may develop them even if your parents lack them. The unpredictability of dimple inheritance is similar to that for eye color, in that more than one gene may influence the trait.

It's estimated that between 20% and 30% of the world's population has facial dimples, and that percentage varies among different global populations.

Interested in discovering genetic markers for cheek dimples, the AncestryDNA^® team set out to investigate. To do so, they asked more than 1.3 million people, "Do you have dimples in your cheeks?" By comparing their answers to their genetic profiles, the team identified over 2,900 DNA markers connected to dimples.

For further analysis, they conducted a polygenic risk score calculation. This tool enables scientists to see if you have a genetic inclination for having dimples. Based on these calculations, the Ancestry^® team determined that about 2% of the variation in whether people have cheek dimples can be explained by the differences in their DNA.

What Else Does Science Say About Cheek Dimples?

Some people have dimples most or all of their lives, while others have them for certain periods. Babies, for example, often have dimples in their cheeks due to baby fat. However, because that fat diminishes as they age, the dimples may vanish. Some children don't develop them until they're older, or they can disappear during adolescence or adulthood.

The prevailing theory for dimples' transience is that you typically lose baby fat in the face as you age. At the same time, the facial muscles stretch and lengthen as you grow, which can cause dimples to disappear or to change shape. For some people, aging has the opposite effect, making dimples appear more prominent. In this case, underlying dimples may become more visible as the skin loses its elasticity with age.

Fun Facts About Dimples

Other dimple types can be found on the body as well. Back dimples, sometimes called dimples of Venus, can form just over the buttocks on either side of where the pelvis and spine meet. Sacral dimples also appear in the center of the back in the crease above the buttocks.

If members of your immediate family have dimples, there's a good chance you carry the genes for this trait. If you don't notice dimples when you look in the mirror, an AncestryDNA^® + Traits test can give you more information about whether you have genetic markers associated with them. If you've already taken a test, your results are ready to review with your Ancestry^® membership.