Instagram Once Again Has Us Denying Reality: When Did We Decide Hip Dips Were Ugly?

Don’t ask me why, but I find plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures incredibly fascinating. No, I’m not interested in them for myself. Rather, morbid curiosity awakens within me when I see obvious and not-so-obvious tweakments and major body changes alike to learn all the intricacies about how it’s done, why it’s done, who gets it done, and what the physical and financial costs are. 

Thanks to this, social media algorithms really love to show me plastic surgery-related content, including this bizarre outpouring of women online wanting to fill out their hip dips in yet another unattainable body standard trend. 

Want to see it in action? Look no further than this video of a woman getting hyaluronic acid-based fillers to round out her hips for the quintessential, trendy influencer bod. (Heads up, it does involve a giant needle!)

Once again, Instagram’s “body goals” have us denying reality and inventing new reasons for young women to be insecure with their natural bodies. So let’s set the record straight: Despite the near-naked gals on Instagram fueling an unattainable image for young, impressionable women to lose sleep over, hip dips don’t detract from a woman’s natural beauty.

What Are Hip Dips?

Lovingly or not-so-lovingly called “violin hips” by some, this feature of your anatomy is the trochanteric depression which creates an inward curve on your outer hips above your thighs. Depending on how much fat or muscle mass you have, hip dips are either totally covered up or very visible. Even some of the most classic beauties like Marilyn Monroe had hip dips!

For those women who have visible hip dips, you might feel self-conscious about the fact that those dips could detract from you achieving the famed hourglass figure – which, as an aside, we’ve found is not actually the most important body feature to attract a beau anyway. 

Here’s the thing: You have hip dips because of the way your pelvis is anatomically shaped. This means that it’s nearly impossible to completely reduce the appearance of “violin hips” with exercise alone, so more women are opting to consult a plastic surgeon for a simple fix. But it’s not that simple, really.

The cosmetic industry seems to invent new “problems” that only they can fix.

Which Surgical Procedures “Correct” Your Hip Dips?

Fat Transfers

Whether done alone or in combination with other procedures, such as full-body lipo or Brazilian butt lifts (BBLs), fat transfer or fat grafting is one of the most effective and popular ways to cover up hip dips. 

Here’s how surgeons do it: They take fat from anywhere on your body via liposuction and inject it into that lateral contour which you call hip dips. Why is this one so popular? Well, you move unwanted fat from one part of the body to a wanted part of the body.

Recovery from fat transfer to fill hip dips could be up to five days of full downtime and then two extra weeks of recovery time before you get back to your normal life. You might have lumps, bumps, swelling, bruising, and general discomfort from the injection, and you might have bleeding or infection from the liposuctioned areas.

It’ll last you a long time, as long as all of the transferred fat survives. Doctors report about 70% remaining for life and the rest melting away, so in the initial procedure they will likely overfill to compensate for that inevitable fat loss. Because this procedure is pretty complex, it will likely run you anywhere from $7,500 to $12,900 in the United States. 

Injectable Fillers

Often rumored to be the Kendall Jenner procedure of choice (because let’s face it, she likely didn’t have enough fat to do a transfer), injectable fillers can be used for filling hip dips. This one is preferred for people who either lack substantial body fat or don’t want to fully go under the knife.

Here’s how the procedure works: Fillers like Sculptra, which are made of synthetic materials such as poly-L-lactic acid, are injected into your body and stimulate collagen production to fill out your hips with volume. The procedure goes by quickly, requires no anesthesia, and boasts little-to-no recovery time at all.

There are three big problems with using Sculptra to fill out hip dips. First, this procedure will likely only last you about two years before you need to refill. Second, the results won’t be as dramatic of an augmentation, so you’ll likely need more and more injections to achieve your desired look. Thirdly, all those procedures totally add up over time! Doctors report that one vial injection could cost you anywhere between $1,000 to $1,500 and that if you want a “full correction” you might need to come back for as few as 5 vials and as many as 10 vials spread out through the rounds of treatment.

Fillers like Sculptra stimulate collagen production to fill out your hips, but only last about two years.

Hip Implants

Looking for a more permanent procedure? Hip implants made from semi-solid silicone, much like breast implants, are the most consistent procedure for full volume when filling out hip dips. 

Though the implants are made of silicone, it’s worth noting that this procedure is not the same as getting injected with silicone. Singer Nicki Minaj has actually admitted to having black market injections to augment her bum but didn’t specify which ones she had. If she had injectable silicone – which could be reasonably assumed based on how hush-hush her procedure seemed – she could have been facing serious health consequences like blood clots which can travel body-wide, strokes, painful lumps, and even death, as warned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Here’s how the procedure works: Your surgeon creates custom implants using your ideal vision for wider hips. You’ll be placed under general anesthesia and then your surgeon cuts and implants the silicone shape below your subcutaneous fascia layer. 

After you’re all sutured up, you’ll likely need as few as two weeks and as many as four weeks of dedicated downtime. The full recovery time, however, can be up to two months long. During this time, you’ll be restricted from side sleeping for three weeks at minimum and you’ll have to wear compression garments for over a month. You won’t be able to lift anything heavy or do a wide variety of strenuous activities.

If you get silicone hip implants, you run the risk of infection, deep vein thrombosis, fat necrosis, bruising, thick scars, and asymmetry in your curves, and you actually might be able to see the edges of your implant. It’s also worth mentioning that these types of implants may run risks similar to Breast Implant Illness Syndrome, an underreported condition often shoved under the rug but costing women countless health crises.

In the United States, hip implants will likely cost you anywhere between $8,000 and $13,000, making them the most expensive option but also the most permanent.

These Sneaky Procedures Promote Unhealthy Body Expectations

As I mentioned before, rumors have been floating around for a while that Kendall Jenner had Sculptra filler injected to create more voluminous hips and hide any appearance of hip dips.

Instagram plastic surgery detective Dana Omari (IGFamousByDana) analyzes before and after photos of celebs who have denied getting work done but somehow have magically evolving face and body shapes. On Kendall Jenner, Omari noted that the model is very slim and probably works her butt off to maintain her runway weight, so it wouldn’t make sense for her to have that slim-thick, skinny hourglass look without some help from dermal filler. 

Hip dips are so normal on a healthy woman’s body that if you were to look at almost every fitness influencer from the front without them purposefully posing with their hip popped out to the side to emphasize those booty gains, you’d see that they have very obvious, natural hip dips too! In fact, exercise can sometimes even accentuate the look of hip dips if you drop too far in body fat and gain muscle because, as we know, you can’t spot-pick where you lose fat.

For a Karjenner, running up a tab with a plastic surgeon for $15,000 or so a pop to fill out their hip dips won’t even cause them to bat an eyelash. However, since the recovery time for hip filler is so quick and there are no visible marks of injections like there are outlines of implants, your casual onlooker might assume that it’s au naturel. Once you start seeing those perfectly rounded hips on one influencer, it really makes you wonder how many of them have quietly been getting regularly injected to circumvent what God gave them.

Closing Thoughts

One thing I often end up discussing with my friends is how often we notice that the cosmetic industry seems to invent new “problems” that only they can fix. Peruse search engine results for hip dip procedures, and you’ll see just how powerful the language is that they use. It’s always about “fixing” or “correcting” hip dips, as if there’s something anatomically incorrect with the natural shape of a woman’s body.

This behavior feels predatory, whether intentional or not, and it preys on the young and the insecure. Cosmetic procedures and treatments can address many conditions, even for things like acne scars. If you truly want fillers, Botox, or whichever-plasty you desire, then go right ahead. There’s a chance it’ll make you feel better about yourself, but it also might not solve any deeply ingrained body image issues you may have. Don’t let Instagram mislead you: Your hip dips are a natural part of your womanly figure!

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