Question:
What is the ruling of dimpleplasty? Hope for an explanation from S.S Mufti. Thank you.
Brief Answer:
Alhamdulillah, praise and thanks to Allah for the countless blessings He has blessed us all with. Blessings and salutations to the Prophet Muhammad PBUH, his wives, his family, companions and all those that follow his teachings to the day of judgement.
The ruling of dimpleplasty through piercing or surgery is haram. Dimple that is created merely for the purpose of beautification (tahsiniyyah) is prohibited because it is a change towards Allah’s creation which clearly holds no need (hajiyyah) on doing so.
Explanation:
Dimple is a small natural indentation in the flesh on a part of the human body, most notably in the cheek or chin. Cheek dimples when present, show up when a person makes a facial expression, like smiling, whereas a chin dimple is a small line on the chin that stays on the chin even without making any specific facial expressions. Dimples possibly caused by variations in the structure of the facial muscle known as zygomaticus major. [1]
Research found that cheek dimples are usually considered as a highly attractive muscle disability in facial beauty. [2] Unfortunately, not all people have dimples. So, some would come to the great length of going through a painful procedure which is dimpleplasty (dimple surgery) or piercing the dimple to be perpetual for a certain period of time. Based on the research, among the risk of dimpleplasty include injury to the buccal branch of facial nerve, but is extremely uncommon. [3] Still, the surgery is still open to any unknown risks without any guarantee.
Originally, cosmetic surgery and any procedure which make changes to human physical features without any dire need is prohibited by Shara’. This is in accordance with hadith of the Prophet PBUH:
لَعَنَ اللَّهُ الْوَاشِمَاتِ وَالْمُسْتَوْشِمَاتِ وَالنَّامِصَاتِ وَالْمُتَنَمِّصَاتِ وَالْمُتَفَلِّجَاتِ لِلْحُسْنِ الْمُغَيِّرَاتِ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ
Allah had cursed those women who tattooed and who have themselves tattooed, those who pluck hair from their faces and those who make spaces between their teeth for beautification changing what God has created
Sahih Muslim (2125)
Curse (لَعَنَ) in the hadith shows the prohibition of changing what Allah has created whether for those who did and those who asked others to imply the changes upon them. (See Fath al-Bari 10/377). Imam al-Nawawi commented that the meaning of phraseلِلْحُسْنِ lil husni for the action of making space between the teeth means
وَأَمَّا قَوْلُهُ الْمُتَفَلِّجَاتُ لِلْحُسْنِ فَمَعْنَاهُ يَفْعَلْنَ ذَلِكَ طَلَبًا لِلْحُسْنِ وَفِيهِ إِشَارَةٌ إِلَى أَنَّ الْحَرَامَ هُوَ الْمَفْعُولُ لطلب الحسن أما لو احتاجت إِلَيْهِ لِعِلَاجٍ أَوْ عَيْبٍ فِي السِّنِّ وَنَحْوِهِ فلابأس والله أعلم
While his saying of ‘people who make space between the teeth for beautification (lil husni)’ indicates that the prohibition is merely when it is done for beautification. While if a person is in need of doing so to cure (any physical defect) or due to aib on his teeth, it is no problem and Allah is the All-Knowing. (Refer al-Minhaj fi Syah Sahih Muslim,14/107). Therefore, the hadith becomes the dalil for the prohibition of all actions of changing Allah’s creation for the purpose of beautification without any suppressing need.
In conclusion, based on the excerpt presented, we state that creating artificial dimple through surgery or piercing for beautification is haram. Surgery which produces indentation at the cheek is prohibited because it is a modification towards His creation as well as having the element of fabrication upon one’s natural beauty. In fact, dimpleplasty involves high cost with risky implications like injuring the buccal branch of facial nerve. Cosmetic surgery which can change the Allah’s creation will only be acceptable in dire needy situations and not simply due to beautification (tahsiniyyah).
Lastly, let us be thankful of all His blessing as well as be content with the physical shape and feature which Allah has created for His servants.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimple
[2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228105937_Anatomical_basis_of_dimple_creation_-_A_new_technique_Our_experience_of_100_cases
[3]https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232923524_Complication_of_dimple_creation/fulltext/57ebd43008ae93b7fa9570da/Complication-of-dimple-creation.pdf