Is there a face in your knee?

Yesterday I ran across this photo in the San Francisco Chronicle, and I thought, "Oh, that's lovely!" . . . 

. . . "But HOW could there be no mention of the amazing face peering out of Ms. Frances Chung's knee?"

And so I find myself pulled back into my old fascination with the faces in our knees! Years ago in art school, I got my first exposure to this thrilling topic on page 134 of the "Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist" (Stephen Rogers Peck). I thought it was a charming idea and it stuck in my mind, but it wasn't until many years later as a Pilates teacher that I saw my first real live knee-face. 

"Whoa!" I said to my client practicing on the Pilates Reformer in shorts, "You've got faces in your knees!"

He said: "What?" (Nervous laughter.)

I had to take a picture so he'd believe me.  

So then I went home and dug out the old book, hoping to find forgotten details explaining what these faces are made of, but alas, the only explaining Mr. Peck had done about this tantalizing topic was "kneecap has a 'beard' of fat," and "Cupid's face in female knee." Humpfh. (And I had just found out that he was wrong if he was implying that only female knees can have faces.) 

What can we deduce from looking at these sketches?  I think the brow, the eyes, and the bridge of the nose are formed by the patella. 

That's about as far as I've gotten, but I want to know which structures in the knee, during what phase of action or tension or other factors, actually make the human face appear.

Don't you?
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Over the years of working with people and their bodies and knees, I've occasionally taken photographs of clients' and friends' knee-faces, and sometimes they were so distinctive we would name them (i.e. Dave on the left, Bill on the right). I've always wondered whether these features and expressions, or the lack of them, could tell us anything about the state of the joints and tissues -- diagnostic, as it were.  

Maybe not! I have no answers, yet.

Dave's a bit of a gump, while Bill is more noble and pensive.

These 2 ladies seem a lot more cheerful than Dave and Bill are.

Anyhow, I'm putting this issue out there for discussion and I'd love to hear from others who have given it serious consideration. 

SERIOUS CONSIDERATION. Such as Carol Robbins' (RES-CPT™) serious investigation, which she made a video about. I urge you to click here to see her gripping (and un-gripping) video! 

• (BTW, the ability to LOWER your kneecaps at will is very important to the health of your whole body, so please read Carol's excellent blog post "Release Your Kneecaps.")

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Kind of a lame example, but my right knee (on the left) does have a bit of a face.

So, maybe you've figured out more than I have about what the anatomical variations in our knees' expressiveness might signify. 

If you have, can we talk about it?

Maybe you have an example (hopefully better than my contribution here on the right), or a trove of knee portraits you'd like to share. I'd love it if you post some photos in the Comments (being new to blogging I don't know if that's possible, but I'm sure you can post links). 

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PS:  I found a Facebook page about "Knees That Look Like Faces," which may have been started by a kindred spirit but has ended up showing very few knees and for some reason has turned pornographic. Sigh. And of course (Really? Of course?) an internet search brings up lots of references to celebrities living in somebody's knee or somebody living in a celebrity's knee, but no one I could find is answering my questions.