Wednesday 4 April 2012

WHAT is the purpose of the little indentation in the centre of our upper lips?

You'll be proud to know that we have a groove running down our upper lip for absolutely no good reason, as William P Jollie, of the Medical College of Virginia explains :

"The indentation in the centre of our upper lip is a groove, or raphe, that forms embryonically by merging paired right and left processes that make up our upper jaw.
It has no function, just as many such midline merger marks, or raphes, have no function. We have quite a merger-lines on our bodies: a raphe down the upper surface of our tongues; a grooved notch under the point of our chins; and a raphe in the midline of our palates. There are also several in the genital area, both male and female.
Anatomically, the raphe on our upper lip is called the philtrum, an interesting word derived from the Greek word philter, which even in English means a love potion. I confess I don's see a connection, but many anatomical terms are peculiar in origin, if not downright funny." 

No comments:

Post a Comment