On the Internet you can come across an “interesting fact” that the nose and ears are the only parts of the human body that grow throughout his life. If you pay attention to the appearance of older people, you can quite believe this. Many men and women over 70 have prominent noses and ears, and there is even scientific evidence for this. In the 20th century, scientists conducted studies that showed that these body parts actually become larger over time. So what happens, is all this true? In fact, this is a much more complex phenomenon than it might seem at first glance. Read our material and you will definitely expand your horizons.
Surprisingly, in the 1990s, scientists studied the size of the nose and ears of older people
Contents
- 1 Big noses in older people
- 2 Big ears in older people
- 3 Why nose and ears become big
- 4 How to prevent enlargement of the nose and ears
Big nose in older people
According to the scientific publication IFL Science, in 1995, scientists conducted a study with the telling title “Why Do old people have big ears? Observations have shown that after the age of 30, a person’s ears grow by 0.22 millimeters annually.
Even those with small and neat noses will have larger ones in old age
A 1997 study gave almost the same result. It turned out that on average, adults' ears become 1.96 millimeters larger. Scientists even came to the conclusion that by measuring the circumference of the auricle, you can find out the approximate age of a person.
Finally, scientists conducted another similar experiment in 1999. The authors of this study created facial models of hundreds of people and once again found that the older the person, the larger their ears.
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Big ears in older people
Research entitled “Why do old people have big noses” ? does not exist. But in 2002, scientists studied the faces of 2,500 people aged 0 to 97 years and found that nose size does depend on age. This was expected, because babies have tiny body parts, while adults are many times larger.
People's ears also get larger as they age, that's a fact
The results of a similar study in 2011 confirmed that people's noses become larger as they age. larger. When a person turns 65–80 years old, the nose begins to occupy 15% more area of the face than at 18–30 years old.
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Why the nose and ears become big
Based on all the research results listed above, we can conclude that the human nose and ears are indeed constantly growing. But it’s not so simple – yes, they become larger, but only due to the measurement of the shape of the cartilage and sagging skin.
Over the course of life, a person’s cartilage and skin wear out a lot. This occurs due to weight gain and loss, hormonal fluctuations and physical injury. If at the age of 18 all parts of a person’s body are covered with elastic skin, then at the age of 70 they literally begin to sag.
With age, every person’s face sags at least a little
A person’s nose enlarges not only due to changes structures of cartilage and skin. According to one plastic surgeon, as many people age, the glands at the tip of their nose become enlarged. As a result, the organ of smell becomes wider and heavier – it begins to “look down.”
The skin on the ears also begins to sag, especially if a person wears heavy earrings throughout his life. This also happens to other parts of the body such as the chin. Pay attention to the faces of older people, most of them really have very saggy skin.
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How to prevent enlargement of the nose and ears
As we age, each of us will experience larger noses and ears. Many would like to avoid this, but without plastic surgery it is almost impossible to do this. According to scientists, the main culprit for sagging body parts in old age is nature, or more precisely, the force of gravity. Alas, even if you really want to stay fit in old age, the laws of physics cannot be canceled.
You can maintain a good appearance in old age by leading the healthiest lifestyle possible
With age, many different processes occur in the human body. They, in particular, cause older people to smell strange—people describe it as “greasy and grassy.” For many years, scientists could not understand what this was connected with, but in 2022 the answer was finally found. It turns out that the skin of people after 60 years or later begins to secrete omega-7 fats, which decompose into 2-nonenal in the air. You can read more about this in our article “Scientists have discovered why older people smell strange.”
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At the age of 70, it is impossible to look 18 – even the best plastic surgeons cannot help achieve this result. But every person is able to maintain intelligence and strength thanks to one nutritional supplement. We are talking about a combination of glycine and N-acetylcysteine, which is also known as GlyNAC.