# Old man's nose looks like 3 grapes-what is wrong with it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 6, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mans-nose-looks-like-3-grapes-what-is-wrong-with-it/545716 "2010-07-06T14:26:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mans-nose-looks-like-3-grapes-what-is-wrong-with-it/545716/1 "2010-07-06T14:26:51Z")
So, my aunt had some old beau come by her place. She hadn’t seen him in 40 or more years. It had been pointed out that he was quite the studly boy, back in the day. At any rate, I answered the door, and there was this 70 year old man. His nose horrified me! It looked, literally, as there were three flesh-colored grapes stuck where the nostrils, and the tip of the nose should have been! Scary, scary, scary… What kind of condition can this be? Thanks, hh ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mans-nose-looks-like-3-grapes-what-is-wrong-with-it/545716/2 "2010-07-06T14:37:34Z")
Could be roseacea, tho generally accompanied by red discoloration. Think WC Fields. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mans-nose-looks-like-3-grapes-what-is-wrong-with-it/545716/3 "2010-07-06T14:39:00Z")
Assuming he didn’t actually have grapes attached to his nose, could he have rhinophyma? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mans-nose-looks-like-3-grapes-what-is-wrong-with-it/545716/4 "2010-07-06T14:50:15Z")
[It’s got 57 possible causes.](http://symptoms.wrongdiagnosis.com/cosymptoms/nose-lump/skin-cancer-sall.htm). ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mans-nose-looks-like-3-grapes-what-is-wrong-with-it/545716/5 "2010-07-06T15:27:23Z")
Possibly cancer, maybe he was getting treatments and had some surgery? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mans-nose-looks-like-3-grapes-what-is-wrong-with-it/545716/6 "2010-07-07T05:54:05Z")
Not rhinophyma, rosacea. Don’t know about cancer, auntie too embarrassed to even ask about it. I don’t think those 57 links are what I want to look thru! Thanks all, hh ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mans-nose-looks-like-3-grapes-what-is-wrong-with-it/545716/7 "2010-07-07T07:17:07Z")
Perhaps your aunt’s beau was graped by the grapist. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mans-nose-looks-like-3-grapes-what-is-wrong-with-it/545716/8 "2010-07-07T18:13:50Z")
[A classical painting (1488) depicting a man who has end-stage rosacea.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Domenico_Ghirlandaio_003.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mans-nose-looks-like-3-grapes-what-is-wrong-with-it/545716/9 "2010-07-07T18:24:31Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > Perhaps your aunt’s beau was graped by the grapist. Post of the day! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mans-nose-looks-like-3-grapes-what-is-wrong-with-it/545716/10 "2010-07-07T18:27:41Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Assuming he didn’t actually have grapes attached to his nose, could he have rhinophyma? [Rhinophyma](http://img.medscape.com/fullsize/migrated/editorial/clinupdates/2002/2032/2032.fig21.jpg) can be a result of untreated rosacea. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mans-nose-looks-like-3-grapes-what-is-wrong-with-it/545716/11 "2010-07-07T18:35:55Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Not rhinophyma, rosacea. > Don’t know about cancer, auntie too embarrassed to even ask about it. > I don’t think those 57 links are what I want to look thru! > > Thanks all, > hh Er, if you don’t know the guy, how do you know that it isn’t rhinophyma or rosacea? ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mans-nose-looks-like-3-grapes-what-is-wrong-with-it/545716/12 "2010-07-07T21:05:28Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Er, if you don’t know the guy, how do you know that it isn’t rhinophyma or rosacea? IANAD, but, the reason that I said it wasn’t either of those was because there was no discoloration,whatsoever, and none of the pictures had anything even slightly resembling his defect. Could be wrong, tho. Best wishes, hh ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mans-nose-looks-like-3-grapes-what-is-wrong-with-it/545716/13 "2010-07-07T21:17:47Z")
So… he had a perfectly normal nose within the range of potential noses, other than the fact that it was kind of stubby/bulbous/rounded? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-mans-nose-looks-like-3-grapes-what-is-wrong-with-it/545716/14 "2010-07-07T21:26:31Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Post of the day! Concur.