Your lower back may have two little dents above your butt, and if you’re wondering about two dimples lower back meaning, they’re usually a normal part of your anatomy. They’re often called back dimples or dimples of Venus, and they sit near the back of your pelvic bones. Having two dimples on your lower back doesn’t tell you how healthy you are. The trouble starts when a familiar feature changes and you dismiss it because you’ve always had dimples there.
They’re a normal feature of your lower back
Your pelvis has two bony points near the back, one on each side of your spine. They’re called the posterior superior iliac spines, which is a lot of words for a couple of places you can feel through your skin. The small dips sit over those points, where the skin and connective tissue beneath it meet, and that tissue is part of what helps hold your skin and other structures in place. Connective tissue is the material that helps hold your skin and other structures in place.
Stand with your back to a mirror and look just above the top of your butt. You may see the dimples sitting neatly side by side, or you may spot one more easily than the other. Your posture and the lighting can change how noticeable they are, as can how your body carries fat around your lower back. None of that changes what they are.
You were born with the anatomy that gives you those dips. You didn’t earn them by doing a particular workout, and you didn’t cause them by sitting badly at your desk. Exercise or changes in body fat may make them more visible, but there’s no reliable exercise that creates back dimples if your natural anatomy doesn’t show them.
I’d be suspicious of any video promising to give you dimples of Venus in two weeks. You can work on your back muscles for plenty of good reasons. Chasing two tiny dents in your skin isn’t one of them.
They don’t tell you much about your health
A pair of back dimples is a visible feature, not a test result. You can look at them in the mirror, but you can’t use them to judge how your spine works or how fit you are. Those little dips don’t come with a report on the rest of your body.
You might come across a claim that they prove you have better circulation near your pelvis. A visible dent in your skin can’t tell you that. The same goes for claims that back dimples guarantee better posture or a stronger back. Your lower back isn’t secretly handing out health reports.
Pay attention to what you can actually observe instead. Have the dips always looked the same? Is the skin around them comfortable and unchanged? A long-standing pair of dimples with no symptoms usually needs no special attention. A new painful spot deserves a closer look, even when it happens to be nearby.
Your dimples also aren’t something you need to check every morning. Notice a change when you’re getting dressed? Take another look in good light. Otherwise, you can leave your lower back alone.
They aren’t a measure of fitness
Your workout routine doesn’t determine whether those two dips appear. You might notice them more after a change in body fat, or you might never see them clearly, no matter how often you exercise. A workout can make your back feel stronger without changing the shape of your skin.
A photo online might make back dimples look unusually deep because of an arched pose or light that casts a shadow. Then you look at yours and start wondering why they don’t match. The picture doesn’t tell you anything useful about your body.
You can like the way your lower back looks without measuring it against a photo. You can also feel completely neutral about it. A shallow dip isn’t a failed version of a deeper one, and a smooth lower back doesn’t mean you’ve missed a fitness goal.
Choose exercise for what it helps you do, whether that’s moving more comfortably or getting stronger. Those are things you can notice without hunting for two marks above your jeans.
A lower-back dimple and a sacral dimple aren’t quite the same thing
Two dimples sitting on either side of your lower back are different from a single dimple near the center of the crease above your butt. That single mark is often called a sacral dimple. The distinction matters when you’re trying to make sense of something you’ve noticed, particularly on a baby.
A sacral dimple is usually present from birth. A clinician may pay closer attention to a baby’s dimple if it’s unusually deep, sits farther up the back, or appears with another skin change. A review of studies in infants found that certain skin findings can signal a need to check the spine underneath. Related spinal conditions are also described in dogs, but that doesn’t change what the ordinary paired back dimples higher and farther apart mean for a person. The ordinary paired back dimples higher and farther apart aren’t the same finding.
You don’t need to diagnose a mark from the bathroom mirror. Check where it actually sits, and think about whether it’s always been there. A photo in good light can help you describe it at an appointment, but zooming in for an hour won’t tell you what’s underneath the skin.
Bring it up with a healthcare professional if you’re unsure, especially if you’re worried about a dimple on a child. A quick look in person can answer more than a search through pictures that may not resemble what you’re seeing.
Pain or a new change deserves attention
Ordinary back dimples don’t cause lower-back pain. Your back can hurt for plenty of reasons, and the fact that the pain happens near a visible dip doesn’t prove the dip caused it. You still deserve to take the pain seriously.
You might realize one spot has become tender or red, or it feels swollen and warm. Look at it properly rather than assuming it’s always been that way. Drainage or a new opening in the skin, especially near the crease above your butt, needs medical attention. A painful spot there may have NOTHING to do with the back dimples you’ve had for years.
Notice whether the change is in one of your usual dimples or somewhere nearby. You don’t have to work out the cause yourself. Knowing what changed, and when you first saw it, gives a clinician something useful to go on.
When to see a doctor
Book an appointment for a new or changing mark, a tender or swollen spot, drainage, or back pain that persists. Book one if you’re concerned about a dimple on a baby, too. In infants, the location and appearance of a skin mark can matter when a clinician decides whether further evaluation is needed.
Get urgent medical care if back pain comes with new leg weakness, numbness around your groin, or trouble controlling your bladder or bowels. Those symptoms are NEVER something to brush off because you read that lower-back dimples are usually harmless.
Tell the clinician what you’ve noticed rather than trying to name it. “The spot became red this week” is useful. A guess based on an online photo can wait.
You get to decide how much attention they deserve
You notice your dimples while getting dressed. You look again the next day, and then you’re twisting in front of the mirror trying to decide whether one has always been deeper. A normal feature can take up an annoying amount of space in your head once you start checking it constantly.
Your lower back doesn’t need a daily inspection. Give a real change the attention it deserves, and let an unchanged feature be an unchanged feature. Good light and a clear description are more useful than repeatedly comparing photos.
You’re also allowed to be curious about your body without making every detail a problem to solve. Look at the dimples if you want. Ask a clinician about anything that concerns you.
Ignore the internet claims promising that two marks above your jeans reveal some hidden advantage. They’re small dips near your pelvic bones. Most days, your lower back can simply be your lower back.
Have your back dimples always looked the same, or did a change make you take a closer look? Let me know in the comments.
Sources
- The Human Superficial Fascia: A Narrative Review. International journal of molecular sciences, 2025. Full text (PubMed Central)
- Incidence of Occult Spinal Dysraphism Among Infants With Cutaneous Stigmata and Proportion Managed With Neurosurgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA network open, 2020. Full text (PubMed Central)
- Lumbosacral (myelo) meningoceles in dogs, related tethered cord syndrome, and their surgical management: review of the literature and clinical experience. Frontiers in veterinary science, 2025. Full text (PubMed Central)
This article is for informational purposes only and isn’t a substitute for medical advice. Talk to your doctor about any health concerns.
