Back dimples are small indentations on your lower back, just above the buttocks, and they’re completely normal. They’re created by a short ligament that connects a bony point on your pelvis to the skin, pulling it inward slightly. They don’t indicate anything about your health, fertility, or circulation. They’re simply an anatomical feature, like having attached or detached earlobes.
What Creates Back Dimples
Back dimples sit directly over your sacroiliac joints, where the base of your spine meets the pelvis on each side. A short ligament stretches from a bony prominence on the pelvis (called the posterior superior iliac spine) to the overlying skin. Where that ligament pulls the skin down toward the bone, a visible indentation forms. Everyone has these ligaments, but the dimples are only visible when the ligament is short enough and the person’s body composition allows them to show.
They appear as two symmetrical dips, one on each side of the spine. They’re more common and more noticeable in women, though men can have them too. When they appear on women, they’re sometimes called “dimples of Venus,” after the Roman goddess of beauty. On men, the less common term is “dimples of Apollo.”
Are They Genetic?
Back dimples are widely considered a genetic trait, meaning you either have the anatomy that makes them visible or you don’t. You can’t create them through exercise, and no specific workout will make them appear if your ligament structure doesn’t produce them naturally. Losing body fat can make existing dimples more prominent, since there’s less tissue covering the indentation, but it won’t create dimples that aren’t already there structurally.
The Circulation and Fertility Myths
A persistent claim online is that back dimples indicate better blood circulation in the pelvic area, which supposedly makes orgasm easier or signals higher fertility. There is no research supporting any of this. Back dimples are created by a ligament attaching bone to skin. They have nothing to do with blood flow, nerve sensitivity, or reproductive function. The myth likely persists because it sounds plausible and gets repeated without anyone checking whether a study actually exists. None does.
Back Dimples vs. Sacral Dimples
It’s worth knowing the difference between cosmetic back dimples and a sacral dimple, which is a separate thing entirely. Back dimples (dimples of Venus) sit on either side of the lower spine, above the buttock crease. A sacral dimple is a single indentation that sits lower, directly over the sacrum or near the tailbone, sometimes within or just above the crease between the buttocks.
In adults, a sacral dimple is almost never a concern. In newborns, however, pediatricians look at sacral dimples more carefully because in rare cases they can signal an underlying spinal issue. A simple, shallow dimple sitting low within the gluteal cleft, with no other unusual skin findings, typically needs no further evaluation. Pediatric guidelines flag a sacral dimple for further workup if it sits more than 2.5 centimeters above the anal margin, is larger than 5 millimeters across, appears alongside a hairy patch or skin tag, or if there are multiple dimples. In those cases, imaging (usually ultrasound in the first eight weeks of life, or MRI after that) can rule out spinal cord issues.
If you’re an adult noticing two symmetrical indentations on your lower back, those are standard back dimples, not sacral dimples, and they carry no medical significance at all.
Can You Get or Remove Them?
Because back dimples are structural, your options for changing them are limited. No exercise routine targets the specific ligament responsible. Some people find their dimples become more visible with lower body fat or with strength training that builds the surrounding muscles, which creates more contrast around the indentation. Cosmetic procedures like liposuction in the lower back area have been used to make dimples more pronounced, and filler injections could theoretically reduce them, but these aren’t common procedures and carry the usual surgical risks.
For most people, back dimples are simply a feature they either have or don’t, with no health implications in either direction.