How much does the nose grow with age?

Hi and thanks for your question.  Noses don't grow as we age, but noses that have weak support do droop due to the force of gravity.  

This is a very interesting question! 

Some of our body parts continue to grow, change and evolve even after the rest of the body it fully grown and our noses are a part of that group.

Although the larger part of facial growth is finalized by the age of 18 for women and about 20 for men, the nose will continuously change to some extent forever.

Since a large part of the nasal structure consists of cartilage that, unlike bone, grows continuously, so it is no surprise that the nose changes in size and volume.

Another reason for shape and size alteration is gravity – as collagen-dependent tissues supporting the nasal tip weaken in time, the nasal tip becomes droopy, which makes the nose longer. This can be caused by many factors, primarily genetics, but also because the skin loses its elasticity, gets thinner, as well as loosening of the connective tissue, etc. 

However, keep in mind that your nose is part of  bigger whole- that of your entire face and looks bigger/smaller in proportion to your other facial features - for instance, some people's facial features get more or less prominent when they lose or gain weight. Do not focus only on your nose, look at it as part of a whole - your entire face.

Nasal growth is finished by the end of age 17-18. However your nose continues to change with age!! This usually happens in the older age where the nasal bony framework gets smaller while the skin thickens specially on the tip area. You nose will look almost the same in the ages 25-40. However after 40-50, you may notice change in the size of the tip or drooping of the tip due to loss of soft tissue support and thickening of the skin.
Hope this helps,
Ali Rıza Öreroğlu, MD FEBOPRAS
European and Turkish Board Certified Aesthetic, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon
Istanbul, Turkey

The way the nose changes with age can be dependent on many factors. In some people there is barely any change at all. In others, the ligaments can weaken causing the nose to droop, or the skin can thicken causing the nose to look bigger. A lot of this is somewhat genetic in nature. Look at your close relatives and you might get an idea of what it may look like in the future.

 The force of gravity is partially responsible for the facial aging process. Depending on the shape and structure of your nose, it will be more or less susceptible to facial aging and drooping with time.  Those with small nasal appearances and obtuse nose-lip angles are less likely to see changes in their nasal appearance with aging compared to those with larger noses and droopy dependent nasal tips at a young age. Hope this helps. Dr. Joseph 

Although you are correct in your assertion that by the age of 20 growth is completed, various dimensions of the nose will change further with age. In particular, the support tissues dependent upon collagen will weaken with time leading to  drooping of the tip. There may also be thickening of the skin over the nose. This is particularly the case in men and specifically over the tip. The detrimental changes to skin tone and tissue support are increased by alcohol, smoking and poor diet which will therefore produce the unwanted signs of ageing - premature or not. A healthy lifestyle will therefore slow the effects of ageing but unfortunately there will be changes with time.

In general, the nose will look approximately the same. Some cartilage is known to grow a bit with age, and the nose my descend a bit with time.

I
think the question of growth of nose with age should be seen in the light of aging of humans on all parts of body.
Growth
of any part to its full size is normally considered up to
maturation which is 18 yrs of females and 20 yrs for males.
Each
organ ages after its maturation may it be full face ears nose breast or any
other organ.
During
ageing, all organs lose support and soft tissue atrophy resulting
into smaller volume and looks empty.
In
case of nose, the tip drops since it
loosed support additionally with age overlying skin ages and even the gland
multiply and hypertrophy and this causes enlargement of the size of the tip o nose.
There
is no medical research on this to say how
much each structural change takes place in terms of millimetres or millilitres.
This
question gives thought for research in this direction.

There are 4 cartilages which are in the nose - 2 cartilages make the front half of the bridge and 2 cartilages make the tip of the nose. They are both joined together by very fine threads of fibrous tissue.  With the ageing process, these threads get weaker and the tip cartilages separate from the bridge cartilages and thus the nose tip droops and the nose gets longer and makes the face look older.  This usually happens after the age of 40 more or less and gets extreme by the age of 60 to 80.  

Great question!  Most facial growth in men is completed by the mid 20s.  It is true that the nasal and ear cartilages grow with age. Men are more likely than women. There is a study out of the UK where they measured these structures longitudinally (measured the same people over time). Whose ears and noses will grow is unclear. The best way I know to predict what your ears and nose might look like years down the road is to look at your family members.