# If our noses and ears never stop growing...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-our-noses-and-ears-never-stop-growing/184289>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 25, 2003, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-our-noses-and-ears-never-stop-growing/184289 "2003-06-25T13:51:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-our-noses-and-ears-never-stop-growing/184289/1 "2003-06-25T13:51:46Z")

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Why don’t we all end up looking like Barbra Streisand and Prince Charles’ love child by the time we’re 65?  
😕

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-our-noses-and-ears-never-stop-growing/184289/2 "2003-06-25T14:29:10Z")

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Who says they don’t stop growing? Only in people with abnormal levels of growth hormone (a condition called acromegaly) does this happen. The ears and nose do retain their _ability_ to grow, because they never form bone, but they don’t actually keep growing (normally).

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**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-our-noses-and-ears-never-stop-growing/184289/3 "2003-06-25T14:33:12Z")

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Not only do ears continue to grow as we age, [you can use them to decipher someone’s age because they grow at a nearly constant rate.](http://www.physweekly.com/archive/96/12_09_96/cu5.html)

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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:** [June 25, 2003, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-our-noses-and-ears-never-stop-growing/184289/4 "2003-06-25T15:21:09Z")

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They don’t grow in as much as they just droop. Ears and nose cartlidge will get elongated and droop, thanks to gravity, but they don’t grow. Several plastic surgeon sites were used as cites.

We beat this to death about 3 times in the past 6 months.

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [June 26, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-our-noses-and-ears-never-stop-growing/184289/5 "2003-06-26T18:40:14Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Philster \*  
> **They don’t grow in as much as they just droop. Ears and nose cartlidge will get elongated and droop, thanks to gravity, but they don’t grow.**

Hmmmm, maybe I should switch to boxer shorts.