# Why 2 nostrils? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2001, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769 "2001-04-04T13:31:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![malaka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@malaka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malaka)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2001, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/1 "2001-04-04T13:31:11Z")
I can see the advantage of having 2 eyes (depth perception), 2 ears, (stereo sound), 2 arms (grasping?), 2 legs (balance), etc. However…why do we have 2 nostrils? Is there some (medical maybe?) advantage to having 2 as opposed to 1 or 3? ---
**Author:** ![Wild\_Card](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wild\_Card](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wild_Card)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2001, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/2 "2001-04-04T13:38:40Z")
It’s a myth that things only appear if there’s an advantage. It’s the reverse, they disappear only if there’s a disadvantage, one great enough to prevent mating. In this case, bilateral symmetry goes back to the earliest organisms. The pairs of facial features come from that event, not anything more recent. ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2001, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/3 "2001-04-04T13:54:01Z")
A [uni-nostril](http://www.the-sun.co.uk/storypics/13192629?version=1) looks silly! (warning: mildly unpleasant) ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2001, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/4 "2001-04-04T14:08:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ticker \* > \*\*A [uni-nostril](http://www.the-sun.co.uk/storypics/13192629?version=1) looks silly! (warning: mildly unpleasant) \*\* Boy, that’s the worst faked photo I’ve seen in ages. ---
**Author:** ![Xerxes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d2c977/32.png) [@Xerxes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xerxes)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2001, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/5 "2001-04-04T14:35:19Z")
Ahem. I don’t want to burst your bubble, but that’s NOT a fake. It’s a well-publicised (over here) pic of a soap-opera (East Enders) actress who is fighting cocaine addiction. Not a pretty sight. FYI, the actress’ name is Daniella Westbrook. I feel sorry for her. ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2001, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/6 "2001-04-04T14:42:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chas.E \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by ticker \* > > \*\*A [uni-nostril](http://www.the-sun.co.uk/storypics/13192629?version=1) looks silly! (warning: mildly unpleasant) \*\* > > Boy, that’s the worst faked photo I’ve seen in ages. \*\* It’s not a fake. The woman is Danniella Westbrook, a British ex-soap actress with a famous coke habit. Her septum went AWOL some time last year. ---
**Author:** ![beefymeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@beefymeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beefymeg)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2001, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/7 "2001-04-04T15:03:00Z")
After suffering a cold for the last, oh, three months, I will be the first to stand up and extol the virtues of being dual-nostrilled! Invariably, one nostril will be more clogged than the other. This allows me to regulate my breathing and “stuffiness” by inclining my head to either side. Gravity pulls the snot out of one nostril and into the other, thanks to the shared sinus cavity, and I gain some control over an otherwise debilitating cold. Wow, that was pretty gross. But if we’re voting to keep the 2-nostril system, I thought it was necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Kayeby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kayeby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kayeby)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2001, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/8 "2001-04-04T15:04:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ticker \* > It’s not a fake. The woman is Danniella Westbrook, a British ex-soap actress with a famous coke habit. Her septum went AWOL some time last year. \*\* Coke does _that_?!?!? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2001, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/9 "2001-04-04T15:06:33Z")
Ever have a bad cold or allergies? I know that I’ve sometimes been operating on one cylinder. ---
**Author:** ![Xerxes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d2c977/32.png) [@Xerxes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xerxes)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2001, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/10 "2001-04-04T15:11:16Z")
It certainly can do, if you’re a chronic user. IIRC she admitted to having done coke for the last 10 years, and at times in fairly mind-boggling amounts. I don’t know if there are other factors which make you more susceptible. I think she was going in for reconstructive surgery at one point, but the doctors were unhappy about it unless she was clean. Last I heard, she wasn’t. Sad case. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2001, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/11 "2001-04-04T16:00:12Z")
because… when you run out of boogers on one side, you’ve got a back-up! ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2001, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/12 "2001-04-04T16:21:43Z")
Because God didn’t give us only ONE picker-finger. duh! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JonnyBravo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@JonnyBravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonnyBravo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2001, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/13 "2001-04-04T17:13:35Z")
So you can stick a pea up one side and breathe through the other…Well known survival technique… ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2001, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/14 "2001-04-04T17:19:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kayeby \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by ticker \* > > It’s not a fake. The woman is Danniella Westbrook, a British ex-soap actress with a famous coke habit. Her septum went AWOL some time last year. \*\* > > Coke does _that_?!?!? :eek: \*\* Known as a deviated septum. Before DS was well-known as an effect of coke use, it was what was listed when someone needed plastic surgury to fix it. But once it became common knowledge, it was a joke when someone needed surgury to fix DS, even if they had it for other reasons than coke use. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2001, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/15 "2001-04-04T21:46:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AWB \* > Known as a deviated septum. Deviated septum, nuthin! that’s a missing septum, due to chronic septum ischemia from the vaso-constrictive properties of cocaine. Her actual septum rotted away. A deviated septum is generally due to trauma, which breaks the septal bone or cartilage, pushing it out of true, and blocking one nasal passage. Surgery to correct this should not result in one nostril. Qadgop, MD ---
**Author:** ![JonnyBravo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@JonnyBravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonnyBravo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2001, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/16 "2001-04-04T21:51:51Z")
Known as a deviated septum. Before DS was well-known as an effect of coke use, it was what was listed when someone needed plastic surgury to fix it. But once it became common knowledge, it was a joke when someone needed surgury to fix DS, even if they had it for other reasons than coke use. That is not a devited septum…that is a nonexistent septum… A deviated septum (which I have, but never touched coke) happens when the cartilage of the septum detaches from from the bone then heals crooked (deviated)…Just so you know… ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/17 "2001-04-05T01:31:17Z")
It’s so schoolboys can’t poke their entire thumb up there. A bit of forward thinking on nature’s part all those millions of years ago… ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/18 "2001-04-05T01:48:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wild Card \* > \*\*…bilateral symmetry goes back to the earliest organisms. The pairs of facial features come from that event, not anything more recent. \*\* That’s what I was thinking, too. But then I had to wonder: why only one mouth? ---
**Author:** ![saepiroth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@saepiroth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saepiroth)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/19 "2001-04-05T02:32:42Z")
the double nostril has an actual purpose… there is a small node that swells on alternating sides every few hours… it enhances the ability to smell, but it blocks airflow significantly. so… one hole to breathe, one to smell. you can figure out which side yours is active on. try it- even when your nose is clear, it is harder to breathe through one nostril, as it is partially blocked. however, as a design function, having no nostril separator wouldn’t be a problem as long as the bone structure inside remained normal. so that actress probably dosn’t have any problems, aside from the asctetic effect. ---
**Author:** ![pezwookiee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@pezwookiee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pezwookiee)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2001, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769/20 "2001-04-05T06:56:28Z")
two words: snot rockets. without our dual-nostril dynamics, this science/sport would not be nearly as evolved. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-2-nostrils/60769.md?page=2)