dimple

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Dimples ( diminutive of pit ) generally refer to small, mostly trough-shaped indentations. In the biological-medical field, it describes congenital or acquired depressions in the tissue. In colloquial terms, dimples mostly describe the characteristic skin indentations that many people have in the cheek , chin , forehead , back or buttocks .

Material science knows pitting as material damage under the technical term pitting .

Dimples in biology and anatomy

Labial pits of a green tree python

In the course of the formation of organs ( organogenesis ), depressions known as dimples (e.g. ear dimples, olfactory dimples, lens dimples) form in some places, which mark the beginning of further differentiation. In fully developed animals , permanent dimples found on the body surface often serve to protect sensory cells or glandular ducts lying on their base . Well-known examples are pit organ and labial pits in snakes, which are used to perceive infrared radiation .

Depressions called dimples are often found inside the body; under the technical term crypts, for example, in tonsils , lymph nodes and in the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract . Smaller depressions on the tooth surface such as fissures are also often referred to as pits. Alveolus , fossula , fovea and foveola are more technical language terms for dimples.

Dimples as human body features

Cheek dimples

Most people have dimples on their bodies that can be seen all the time or only when certain muscles are tensed. The latter are likely caused by tiny muscle fibers or connective tissue adhesions with muscles that pull the skin inward. In the cheek area, many people develop smaller, mostly approximately symmetrical, very rarely only one-sided depressions when certain facial muscles shorten while laughing , grinning or smiling . The main reason for this is to laugh muscles belonging risorius . If this muscle has a particularly firm connection to the skin of the cheeks at one point, it pulls it inwards when it is tensed, thereby creating pits in the cheeks.

In nude painting or nude photography , the loin dimples are often emphasized as they are considered a special feature of the erotic female body.

Chin dimples occur in 2.2% of men. They are also innate, but for the most part they are not caused by muscle pulling, but probably by a slight abnormality during embryogenesis . The right and left halves of the later lower jaw initially grow separately from one another. When they then fuse, a narrow fiber-cartilaginous connection ( symphysis menti ) is created in the middle between the two halves, the later chin . The chin pits could be caused by incomplete growing together of the two halves of the jaw and the tissue above. However, it is not yet clear whether this is actually the case.

Two soft depressions just above the buttocks are often found on both sides of the lumbar spine , directly above the sacroiliac joints , especially in young womenLumbar dimples (anatomically Fossae lumbales laterales ) pronounced. These depressions, sometimes referred to as "Venus dimples", adhere to the iliac spines , which form two corner points of the Michaelis diamond .

Dimples as an indication of diseases

If dimples are found in unusual locations, these congenital malformations can be an indication of hereditary diseases ; so-called “pits” on the palms and feet, for example, are characteristic of Gorlin-Goltz syndrome . Sacral dimples are usually harmless, but can be a sign of malformation. Pits are also called pin-head-sized recesses that appear to be punched out due to the detachment of horny cells on the nail surface, which are typical for psoriasis ( spot nails ). Permanent pits in the skin area can also develop as the wound heals, if the resulting scar contracts inward.

Web links

Commons : Dimples  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ German dictionary
  2. ^ Norbert Ulfig: short textbook embryology . Georg Thieme, 2009, ISBN 978-3-13-139582-5 , p. 149 .
  3. ↑ Ulrich Drews: Pocket Atlas of Embryology . Georg Thieme, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-13-109902-0 , p. 90 .
  4. ^ Norbert Ulfig: short textbook embryology . Georg Thieme, 2009, ISBN 978-3-13-139582-5 , p. 145 .
  5. ↑ Petra Kölle, Silvia Blahak: ReptilienSkills: Practical Guide to Tortoises, Lizards and Snakes . Schattauer, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-7945-3101-1 , p. 10 .
  6. ↑ LC Junqueira, J. Carneiro: Histology: cytology, histology and microscopic human anatomy . 3. Edition. Springer, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-662-21994-2 , pp. 357, 495 .
  7. ↑ Elmar Hellwig, Joachim Klimek, Thomas Attin: Introduction to tooth preservation . Deutscher Ärzte-Verlag, 2013, ISBN 978-3-7691-3448-3 , p. 148 .
  8. ↑ Federative Committee on Anatomical Terminology: Terminologia anatomica . Georg Thieme, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 978-3-13-114361-7 .
  9. ^ Jochen Fanghänel, Franz Pera, Friedrich Anderhuber, Robert Nitsch: Waldeyer - Anatomie des Menschen . 17th edition. Walter de Gruyter, 2009, ISBN 978-3-11-022104-6 , p. 229 .
  10. ↑ A. Tamir: Numerical survey of the different shapes of human chin. In: The Journal of craniofacial surgery. Volume 24, Number 5, September 2013, pp. 1657-1659, doi: 10.1097 / SCS.0b013e3182942b77 , PMID 24036746 .
  11. ↑ What causes a cleft chin?
  12. ^ Keith Moore: Clinically Oriented Anatomy . 5th edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005, ISBN 0-7817-3639-0 , pp. 534 .