# Eyes/Ears/Nose growth

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-ears-nose-growth/121838>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 1, 2002, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-ears-nose-growth/121838 "2002-08-01T06:45:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SoulSearching](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@SoulSearching](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulSearching)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-ears-nose-growth/121838/1 "2002-08-01T06:45:07Z")

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I read that your eyes are the same size since birth but your nose and ears wll continue to grow throughout your life…doesn’t that mean by the time you are 100 years old you will have gigantic ears and nose and very tiny eyes?  
Something ain’t right?

enlighten me…

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**Author:** ![ski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@ski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ski)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-ears-nose-growth/121838/2 "2002-08-01T08:18:13Z")

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Look at the ears on some elderly folk. They are often very large.

But of course genetics has an extremely large role too.

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**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-ears-nose-growth/121838/3 "2002-08-01T12:07:23Z")

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Was covered and I provided cites - the gist of it:

Eyes = same size from birth

ear/nose (cartlidge) - cartlidge can droop and stretch…not really "growing’ per se, but ears become elongated with age from cartlidge stretching…nose too.

-that’s it.

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**Author:** ![c-of-cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@c-of-cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c-of-cyn)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-ears-nose-growth/121838/4 "2002-08-07T00:59:11Z")

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From a former audiologist…

Your ears (I’m referring to the visible outer ear skin and cartilage which is called the pinna) grow until about the age of 11-13. Then as Philster has said, cartilage stretches and droops leading to the IDEA that ears continue to grow when they really just sag.

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**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-ears-nose-growth/121838/5 "2002-08-07T03:28:24Z")

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The nose and the ears seem to grow throughout a person’s entire life. It is not just merely carlidge drooping and stretching.

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**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eyes-ears-nose-growth/121838/6 "2002-08-07T03:33:30Z")

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Your eyes’ lenses also grow throughout life; in the elderly the lenses grow so thick and stiff (and often non-transparent) that cataracts form.