Chin dimples have long been admired as a cute facial quirk. Some see them as a sign of beauty, even proof of genetic uniqueness.
But recently, social media erupted when the real cause behind chin dimples was explained and many viewers wished it hadn’t been revealed.
Actors like Henry Cavill have a natural chin dimple, and Michael Jackson is famously said to have had one surgically added.
It began when a TikTok user asked, point-blank: “What is this thing?” pointing to a small indentation at the bottom of his chin.
Science communicator Hank Green responded, and his explanation quickly went viral. Green said chin dimples are caused by the mentalis muscle, a muscle that unlike most in the body connects bone to skin rather than bone to bone. Green noted:
“It’s in your chin and it is very weird. You have identified correctly a weird muscle. Well done.”
He contrasted that with most muscles, which help us move by pulling bones toward each other. In the face, many muscles instead “yank on skin.”
The tipping point came when Green described how the mentalis muscle’s fibers actually extend into the skin.
“You can see the mentalis here, doing an absolutely wild thing, sticking all of its little muscle fibres into your skin,” he said. “When you contract that muscle, it yanks. It yanks on the skin and makes those little dimples.”
He concluded with an unflinching remark: “It’s a little weird. We’re all made out of meat.”
What had once been an innocuous facial trait suddenly became the subject of disgust and fascination alike.
Some coverage further emphasizes that the mentalis is a paired, conical muscle hidden deep within the chin and that its anchoring to the skin is what creates those dimples when flexed.
In short: chin dimples are not just cute quirks. They’re little indentations created by muscle fibers tugging skin, something people admit they might have preferred to remain ignorant about.
Featured Image: (Alamy/Canva)
