article_snippet: Our ears and nose keep growing as Our age, but it's not due to cartilage continuing to grow, as often thought.
article_snippet: In fact, it's down to gravity, which enables them to elongate by 0.22 millimetres every year.
article_snippet: As we age, the collagen and elastic fibres that make up cartilage, begin to disintegrate, causing the collagen and elastic fibres that make up cartilage to stretch and sag - and appear longer, The Medicine Journal reported.
article_snippet: The same problem occurs in our skin, which compounds noses and ears getting longer.
article_snippet: And because faces become less plump with time, this acts to emphasise the sagging of the ears and nose.