What's the little divot above your lip called?

Search: divot in upper lip

Why: I have a zit there, right in that space between my lip and my nose.

Answer: The philtrum!

Literally philtrum means "love potion." The bit of your lip just below it is called the "Cupid's bow," and the Greeks figured it was sexy.

This is basically a map of where people get dumb-looking piercings ^

In humans, the philtrum is formed where the nasomedial and maxillary processes meet during embryonic development. When these processes fail to fuse fully in humans, a cleft lip (sometimes called a "hare lip") can result. A flattened or smooth philtrum can be a symptom of Fetal alcohol syndrome or Prader-Willi syndrome.

Many mammals have them, too.

Source: Askville by Amazon

The More You Know: Theories on the reason for its existence:

• According to the Jewish Talmud, God sends an angel to each womb and teaches a baby "the entire Torah." Before the baby is born, the angel touches it between the upper lip and the nose and all that was learned is forgotten; the philtrum is formed when the angel "shushes" the baby to cause it to forget its holy knowledge. Other stories say that it is an indent left by the finger of God.
• It makes that part of your upper lip more flexible, which lets you be more expressive.
• It's extra skin so that it doesn't get stretched out when you smile, chew, do other facial expressions, etc. It's just stored as a little "divot" because the skin bulges up on both sides of the nose.
• It is just an incidental depression caused by the attachment of your superior labial frenulum on the inside of your mouth, which holds your lip in place.
• It serves as a tiny canal for any overflow from the nose.
• It's a place to rest your index finger while you are thinking or reading email. It sorta helps you stay centered.