If you have a tiny, pinhole-sized dimple located right where your outer ear meets the side of your face (just in front of the upper part of your ear canal), you have what medical professionals call a preauricular pit (or preauricular sinus).
While viral social media posts often sensationalize it as an evolutionary “leftover from fish gills,” the biological and medical reality is a bit more grounded.
What Is It, Really?
A preauricular pit is a common, harmless congenital anomaly. This means you are born with it, and it develops very early in pregnancy (around the sixth week of gestation) when the tissues forming the external ear don’t completely fuse together.
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The Anatomy: While it looks like a simple dot or piercing hole on the surface, it is actually the opening to a narrow, blind-ended tract (a sinus tract) that tunnels underneath the skin. This tract can be very short, or it can branch out underneath the surface.
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Genetics: They can run in families and can appear on just one ear or both ears (bilateral).
Do They Cause Health Problems?
For the vast majority of people, a preauricular pit causes zero issues and requires no treatment at all. Many people live their entire lives completely unaware they have one, or simply mistake it for an old piercing scar.
However, because it is a small tract under the skin, it does carry a couple of minor risks:
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Infections and Cysts: Because dead skin cells, oils, and bacteria can occasionally get trapped inside the tract, it can become clogged, forming a small cyst or leading to a localized bacterial infection (cellulitis or an abscess).
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Signs of Infection: If you ever notice increasing redness, swelling, tenderness, warmth, or a white/pus-like discharge coming from the hole, it means it has become infected and requires a doctor’s evaluation (usually treated with antibiotics).
What You Should (and Shouldn’t) Do
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Leave it alone: Never try to squeeze, probe, or poke objects (like cotton swabs, pins, or tweezers) into the hole. This pushes bacteria deeper into the tract and triggers infections.
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Keep it clean: During your normal routine, just wash the outer ear gently with soap and water.
