As we age and shrink, our ears grow on
By Michael Woods, Post-Gazette National Bureau

Why do old men have big ears?

A dozen scientific studies have tackled the topic, including the ear-size landmark, done in 1999 at the University of Milan in Italy. Scientists used computer analysis to document the "normal" sizes of facial structures and how structures change as people age.

Ears, they found, do get larger with age. And the study found that old women have big ears too -- although hair styles often hide it.

A British doctor named James A. Heathcote may have pioneered modern research on the topic with a 1995 study that involved several other physicians. They measured ear length in hundreds of patients, aged 30 to 93, and concluded that ears grow an average of 0.01 inches a year.

Japanese scientists confirmed it in a 1996 study of 400 people.

Researchers say that people who live to old age have bigger ears because there's more time for their ears to grow.

One London scientist immediately challenged that in a report published in the British Medical Journal. He argued that old men's ears look bigger because of a trend toward smaller ears in young people. Maybe it's due to passive smoking or changes in parenting, he said, noting that older people got their ears scrubbed or "boxed" -- smacked as punishment -- regularly.

A specialist on aging from Cambridge, England, wrote to the BMJ and said the findings may mean ears are a "biological marker" for longevity. Men with small ears may die younger, leaving a population of healthier old people with big ears.

Several scientists have tossed physiognomy into the debate, in letters to BMJ and other medical journals that published the studies. Physiognomy holds that the study of a person's face reveals a lot about personality and can forecast the future -- including longevity. Long ears mean long life.

Most of the kings and emperors of ancient China had long ears, as do many statues of Buddha. An emperor named Liu Bei, who lived around 220 AD, had ears that reached to his shoulders. He could actually see how own ears by glancing sideways

One Chinese physician recalled his mother's childhood nagging: "Stretch your ears daily, child, to ensure long life."

The earlobe itself has been proposed as a biological marker for heart disease risk. Dozens of studies have shown that men with a diagonal crease in both lobes may have an increased risk of heart attacks.

Some doctors advise that men with the "positive ear lobe crease" pay special attention to controlling heart disease risk factors like smoking, high blood pressure and cholesterol, and cigarette smoking.

When science's eyes turn to people's ears again, you'll hear more on the subject.

Well, I'm not actually sure. but I just looked in the mirror and they seemed bigger.
Maybe it's because I cut my hair shorter.
But now, every time I look in the mirror, all I can see are my ears!

Dumbo, you've met your match!

I've heard that your ears and your nose never stop growing throughout your life. Which is why you always see those cute little old men with huge ears and a huge nose.

AS for me, I've noticed my nose seems porportionately bigger than it used to be...

i want my cute little nose back

Alcop0p said:

You'd look weird with your nose back.
It looks good there on the front

you are so observational sometimes

Alcop0p said:

Yeah. They ALL tell me so

You'd be with a nose on your back

you would be too will your balls rip through your throat

Alcop0p said:

NATIIIIISSSSE! Look what she's telling me now!

Mach asked me to post this:

I've heard that your ears and your nose never stop growing throughout your life. Which is why you always see those cute little old men with huge ears and a huge nose.

AS for me, I've noticed my nose seems porportionately bigger than it used to be...