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When we see at old pictures of our grandparents , we often point out how drastically their facial feature article changed throughout the age . But it ’s not just that they gained raw furrow and their cheeks sag a bit — it ’s that their noses and auricle seem to have get down visibly big over clock time .
But why do auricle and nose seem to grow with eld ?
Our noses and ears seem to swell with age, but why?
These facial features do in truth increase in size of it across the life pair , but it ’s not due to their tissue paper really mature , as they would in puerility , for representative . Your pinna and nose are full explicate by your XX , Dr. Alan Matarasso , a clinical professor of OR at the Zucker School of Medicine in Hempstead , New York , and a former president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons , secern Live Science .
After adolescence , most change to their shape and size can be attributed to the mature cognitive operation , he said .
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This diagram shows the cartilage structure of the nose as it connects to nearby bone.
The underlying structures of both the ears and nose are made of gristle , a stiff - yet - flexile connective tissue that also buffer your bones and joints . Cartilage is composed of specialised cell called chondrocytes , which are suspend in a gooey matrix and stabilized by a connection of morphologic proteins call collagen and elastin . As we get older , our bodies become less efficient at produce new collagen and elastin fibers , which lead to the weakening and loosening of the total gristle structure , Matarasso said .
Moreover , age affects the structure of tissue paper that surround the gristle . For good example , once - taut facial tissue start to relax with years , and combined with the event of gravity , this causes the earlobe to sag and the steer of the nose to droop . This can contribute to the perceptual experience of increase olfactory organ and ear sizing , Matarasso enjoin .
In improver , the skin on the nose can get heavierdue to high activity of sebum secretor , and this extra weighting of the peel can pull the nose further frontward , Matarasso explained .
The gristle scaffolding of the ear and nose may also get looser if the bones they ’re anchored to lose some of their density . This may be caused byosteoporosisor osteopenia , and the peril of these two degenerative bone diseases rises substantially with age . A decrease in sinew tonein and around the ears and nozzle that support those cartilage structures also change with years , he enunciate .
However , exactly how much one ’s nose and ear sizing will change over the years depends on a number of transmitted and environmental factor , Matarasso pronounce .
Facial lineament are loosely a highly heritable trait , and the shape of the nose , in particular , looks like linked to one ’s genetic makeup , according to a 2018 review published in the journalFrontiers in Genetics . Additionally , age - associate pinched changes seem to be far more mutual in males than in female , but the reason for this is unclear , according to a 2021 field published in theNational Journal of Maxillofacial Surgery .
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In terms of environmental gene , there ’s grounds to advise that picture to pollution and the Lord’s Day can accelerate mature processes in the cartilage , Matarasso told Live Science .
The takeaway ? Although our noses and ears seem to swell with age , it ’s nothing to be concerned about .
This article is for informational purposes only and is not mean to offer medical advice .
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