Why Our Ears and Nose Get Bigger Over the Years (and Nothing Can Stop Their Growth)

There’s nothing better than following the growth of a child with markings on the wall. Each year, a new brand shows how it grows, a source of pride for both parents and children. But the same cannot be said about our ears and our nose. For some strange reason, they get bigger and bigger, always leaving the same question: do they ever stop growing? Well, first of all it’s important to warn you that no, nose and ears don’t stop growing.

O awesome.club he was always intrigued by this uninterrupted growth of ears and nose and so he decided to research a little more on this subject.

Well, maybe the big bad wolf was exaggerating a bit when he replied to Little Red Riding Hood that his ears were big enough to hear better. In fact, if the wolf were human, most likely its ears would also be big, since, according to a study carried out by researchers in Berlin, the older we get, the bigger our ears get.

According to the same research, at the moment we are born, our outer ear is bigger than our head. And it continues to grow linearly throughout life; however, growth slows when the child is between eight and ten years old. Ears usually reach their maximum size around age 85.

The average ear growth is minimal but constant over time. This discovery was made by researchers after evaluating the ears of a group of 206 volunteers over 30 years of age. They found that ears increase an average of 0.22 mm per year for 50 years. That is, from three to 80 years old, the ears grow a little more than a centimeter.

People might think that gravity is solely responsible for the growth of ears, but that’s not quite true. Over time, we all experience a loss of skin elasticity. Ear lobes droop, an effect that can be even greater in people who wear earrings frequently. Also, the ear doesn’t just get longer; it gets wider, as the circumference increases an average of 0.51 mm per year, most likely due to collagen aging.

The nose is not far behind. According to other research, it also increases with age, but not entirely. The study authors concluded that nasal volume, area, and linear distances increase from childhood to old age, but, interestingly, the nasal tip angle decreases as a function of age. And men gained much larger measurements than women over time.

If you’re a man and you’ve ever wondered why your nose is bigger than a woman’s, a University of Iowa study made important findings in this regard. The researchers believe the difference is because the constitutions and energy demands of each gender are also different. Generally, men have more lean muscle mass, which requires more oxygen to grow and maintain muscle tissue. According to the authors of the research, a larger nose can inhale and carry more oxygen to the blood to irrigate the muscle.

Think your nose looks too big in selfies? You are not alone. According to one study, taking selfies at a distance of approximately 30 centimeters increases the perception of nose size by 30%. A survey revealed that many people seek cosmetic procedures to improve their appearance based on selfies posted on social media.

Have you ever noticed that your ears and nose have grown? Take a photo from the past and compare it with one from today and see the difference.