# Why can't I see my nose? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 24, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-see-my-nose/787366 "2017-05-24T20:31:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-see-my-nose/787366/21 "2017-05-25T11:54:00Z")
**ftg** does an experiment: I close my left eye and look down and to the left. I can clearly see a good part of my nose. Vice versa for closing my right eye. With both eyes open and looking down and to the left I see …, well, it’s hard to describe. I see a “fringe” of my nose but just barely. Most of my nose is “not there”. I see what my left eye sees in it’s place. Repeat the latter with my a pen pressed against the side of my nose. Now I can clearly see the pen. No fringe effect, no substitution with what the other eye sees. Conclusion: my brain processes out almost all of my nose when it can. It can clearly see in that direction, but it has learned to ignore it for the most part. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-see-my-nose/787366/22 "2017-05-25T13:24:17Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > I can go one better. I can’t see my whole head. Everything else I can see but not my head. Even your neck? Your upper back? Dang. :eek: (And now I just gave myself a charley horse in the waist trying to see how much of my butt I could see if I were really trying. That hurts!:p) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-i-see-my-nose/787366.md?page=1)