There’s a new “trend” out there based around that little depression some women have around their hips – the now-called “Hip Dip.” For plastic surgeons, this common anatomical feature is something patients usually would like to see gone, not championed.
On the latest episode of No Spin Live, board certified plastic surgeons discuss the “trend” and their bewilderment at how a normally unwanted bodily feature is being espoused.
The Hip Dip, Otherwise Known as a “Violin Deformity”
It’s not always that an anatomic issue usually in the sights of plastic surgery patients is paraded as a good thing. For board certified plastic surgeon Dr. Jason Pozner of Florida, he knows ‘The Hip Dip’ as something else entirely.
“We call it ‘Violin Deformity’,” he shares. “It’s a depression above your outer thigh – sort of a bulge by your hips – that looks like a violin. The women in this article were calling it ‘The Hip Dip’ and that it’s a good thing! Look, women come in different shapes and sizes and our ideal has always been for a smooth hip to outer thigh transition. But if some women like their little larger outer thighs or hips, that’s fine for them, but from a practical standpoint, most of the patients are coming to me to fix those sort of depressions and highlights.”
Is this a “Trend” or a Misconception?
Trends come and go while others only ever exist in a niche visited by few. Board certified plastic surgeon Dr. Steven Camp of Fort Worth thinks “The Hip Dip” may fall into the later category.
“I think it’s a niche trend, if you will,” Camp explains. “The great thing in plastic surgery is we actually have patients that we talk to that are people. It’s not like veterinary medicine where we look at our patients and they don’t make any noise when we talk to them. We can ask them, ‘Hey, does this depression bother you?'”
Elite plastic surgery is patient-focused with an incredible attention to detail, following a patient’s concerns. It’s a dialogue about what they are having issue with, not what the world is having issue with. “If we listen to the patients well enough, we can get a good sense of what their aesthetic is,” says Camp. “We’re not trying to transfer our opinions onto their results, we’re trying to understand what the patient is trying to derive out of plastic surgery.”
Increasing Awareness for the Hip Dip?
“I think people like to give catch-terms or phrases to areas of the body they’re trying to improve to increase awareness of it,” shares board certified plastic surgeon Dr. Charles Messa. “Bottom line, they want to improve that area of the buttock, hip, and thigh. As been stated, plastic surgery is unique and everybody is unique – beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You really have to deliver what the patient is looking for. That’s what is most important.”
In addition to mild bewilderment at this “trend,” the No Spin Live panel routinely sees patients looking to fix this bodily imperfection, not create it.
“One other thing with this… No one has ever come into my office asking to create a ‘hip dip’,” shares Pozner. “They’ve only come in to try and reduce this area. We’ll see, maybe this will lead to some different changes.”