Healthy Aging Does Your Nose Grow With Age? By Sharon Basaraba twitter Sharon Basaraba is an award-winning reporter and senior scientific communications advisor for Alberta Health Services in Alberta, Canada. Learn about our editorial process Sharon Basaraba Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Jenny Sweigard, MD on June 08, 2020 linkedin Jenny Sweigard, MD, is a board-certified physician involved in patient care, including general medicine and critical care medicine. Learn about our Medical Review Board Jenny Sweigard, MD on June 08, 2020 Print Everyone's body naturally changes. Your nose does grow with age, but only up to a certain point. After that, it may change size and shape—not because it's growing, but because of changes to the bone, cartilage, and skin that give your nose form and structure. OJO Images / Getty Images How Your Nose Changes Over Time In order to determine how the nose changes over the course of a lifetime, researchers in one study examined three-dimensional analyses of photographs of almost 900 Caucasian study participants between the ages of 4 and 73 years. The researchers examined several nasal "landmarks"—height, bridge length, the lengths of both nostrils, the tip protrusion to nasal height ratio, nasal width, and tip angles. Then they sorted the data by age and gender. They found that all measurements were significantly affected by age—specifically, nasal volume, area, and linear distance increased. In other words, they found that noses appeared to get bigger and longer over time. Nasal Growth in Early Life In childhood, adolescence, and perhaps into early adulthood, the nose is definitely growing. Think of the nose you had as a baby, and what it looked like later as a teenager. Your nose obviously got bigger, as it grew along with the rest of your face and body. When exactly the nose stops growing is debated among experts. Some researchers report that the nose stops growing around age 12, while other researchers report an older age, around 16 or 17, or even early adulthood. Gender and ethnicity may explain these differences. This all said, once you reach adulthood, the nose stops growing. Therefore, a "larger" nose cannot be attributed to growth, but rather to the deterioration of key structures within the nose. Structural Nasal Changes in Later Life With aging in adulthood, the nose undergoes many structural or anatomical changes, such as: Thinning of and loss of elasticity of the nasal skinDrooping of the nasal tipA weakening and excessive softening of the nasal cartilageNasal cartilage ossification, which makes it brittle (some instances)Separation of the attachments between the upper and lower cartilage pieces on the sides of the nose Ultimately, these changes can result in the overall lengthening of the nose. Implications of a Larger Nose Your nose is an essential organ that serves two key purposes: bringing warm, humidified air into your lungs, and providing the sense of smell. Age-related changes to the nose can impact its functioning and contribute to progressive nasal obstruction (blockage). Though not a health concern, the nose also carries aesthetic value to many, as it is such a prominent facial feature. Cartilage and skin changes may prove cosmetically unappealing to some. As such, some people opt for surgery on their nose to improve their appearance and/or quality of life. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Sign up for our Health Tip of the Day newsletter, and receive daily tips that will help you live your healthiest life. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article Sources Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Sforza C, Grandi G, De Menezes M, Tartaglia G, Ferrario V. Age- and sex-related changes in the normal human external nose. Forensic Sci Int. 2011;204(1-3):205.e1-205.e9. doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2010.07.027 Sharma P, Arora A, Valiathan A. Age changes of jaws and soft tissue profile. ScientificWorldJournal. 2014;2014:301501. doi: 10.1155/2014/301501 Lee JW, McHugh J, Kim JC, Baker SR, Moyer JS. Age-Related Histologic Changes in Human Nasal Cartilage. JAMA Facial Plast Surg. 2013;15(4):256-262. doi:10.1001/jamafacial.2013.825 Additional Reading Feng Wen Y, Ming Wong H, McGrath CP. A longitudinal study of facial growth of Southern Chinese in Hong Kong: Comprehensive photogrammetric analyses. PLoS One. 2017; 12(10): e0186598. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0186598 Sforza, Chiarella, Grandi, Gaia, De Menezes, Marcio, Tartaglia, Gianluca M and Ferrario, Virgilio F. Age- and Sex-Related Changes in the Normal Human External Nose. Forensic Science International. Vol 204, Issue 1-3, pp. 205.e1-205.e9 van der Heijden P, Korsten-Meijer AG, van der Laan BF, Wit HP, Goorhuis-Brouwer SM. Nasal growth and maturation age in adolescents: a systematic review. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2008 Dec;134(12):1288-93. doi: 10.1001/archoto.2008.501