Human nose

Human nose
Human nose in profile
The nose of a child
Latin	nasus
Artery	sphenopalatine artery, greater palatine artery
Vein	facial vein
Nerve	external nasal nerve

A human nose from the front.

The visible part of the human nose is the protruding part of the face that bears the nostrils. The shape of the nose is determined by the ethmoid bone and the nasal septum, which consists mostly of cartilage and which separates the nostrils. On average the nose of a male is larger than that of a female.

The nose has an area of specialised cells which are responsible for smelling (part of the olfactory system). Another function of the nose is the conditioning of inhaled air, warming it and making it more humid. Hairs inside the nose prevent large particles from entering the lungs. Sneezing is usually caused by foreign particles irritating the nasal mucosa, but can more rarely be caused by sudden exposure to bright light (called the photic sneeze reflex) or touching the external auditory canal. Sneezing is a means of transmitting infections because it creates aerosols in which the droplets can harbour microbes.

Related medical conditions

One of the most common medical conditions involving the nose are nosebleeds (in medicine: epistaxis). Most of them occur in Kiesselbach's area (synonym: Little's area). Nasal congestion is a common symptom of infections or other inflammations of the nasal lining (rhinitis), such as in allergic rhinitis or vasomotor rhinitis (resulting from nasal spray abuse). Most of these conditions also cause anosmia, which is the medical term for a loss of smell. This may also occur in other conditions, for example following trauma, in Kallmann syndrome or Parkinson's disease.

Nose-picking is a common, mildly taboo habit. Medical risks include the spread of infections, nosebleeds and, rarely, self-induced perforation of the nasal septum. Nose fetishism (or nasophilia) is the sexual fetish (or paraphilia) for the nose. The psychiatric condition of extreme nose picking is termed rhinotillexomania.

Trauma of the nose (for example, during vaginal delivery) can result in a nasal fracture or nasal septum deviation.^{[citation needed]} The nose is a common site of foreign bodies. The nose is susceptible to frostbite. Nasal flaring is a sign of respiratory distress that involves widening of the nostrils on inspiration.

Because of the special nature of the blood supply to the human nose and surrounding area, it is possible for retrograde infections from the nasal area to spread to the brain. For this reason, the area from the corners of the mouth to the bridge of the nose, including the nose and maxilla, is known to doctors as the danger triangle of the face.

A rhinoplasty plastic surgery for aesthetic surgery Specific systemic diseases, infections or other conditions that may result in destruction of part of the nose (for example, the nasal bridge, or nasal septal perforation) are rhinophyma, skin cancer (for example, basal cell carcinoma), Wegener's granulomatosis, systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, tuberculosis, syphilis, leprosy and exposure to cocaine, chromium or toxins. The nose may be stimulated to grow in acromegaly.

Samter's triad is the simultaneous occurrence in a patient of asthma, nasal polyps and aspirin sensitivity.

Different nose types

Illustration for "Aquiline or Roman Nose"

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• Aquiline or Roman - convex in shape, like a hook. It is also known as 'hooknose' because of its shape. The word aquiline is derived from the Latin word 'aquilinus' which means 'eagle like'.
• Greek - perfectly straight and follows the line of the forehead without the usual depression at the root of the nose. "It is known as a Greek nose because the great majority of humans, males and females, represented in ancient Greek art, have this type of nose. A variant is the "Alexandrian nose", named so because Alexander the Great is consistently depicted with such a nose. In this case, the nose is perfectly straight as well, and follows a line exactly parallel to that of the forehead, albeit with a slight depression at the root.
• Nubian - narrowing towards the forehead, thick and broad at the middle and wide at the end with large nostrils. The term 'Nubian' comes from the Nubians, an ethnic group living in northern Sudan.
• Hawk - very convex, to the extent that it almost looks like a bow. It is very thin and sharp as well. Since it resembles the beak of a Hawk, it is known as the hawk nose.
• Snub - quite short in length and is neither sharp, nor hooked, nor wide and almost as short as a nose can be (i.e. it is "snubbed").

Culture

Some people choose to get rhinoplasty to change the aesthetic appearance of their nose. Nose piercings are also common, such as nostril, septum or bridge.

In New Zealand, nose pressing ("hongi") is a traditional greeting amongst Maori people. However it is now generally confined to certain traditional celebrations.

Jewish people are often portrayed as having big noses in antisemitism propaganda.^[1]

Evolutionary hypotheses

The human nose protrudes much more than those of the great apes. Despite its size the human nose is less sensitive than an ape's, and due to human bipedalism is less able to detect ground olfaction. The time of the appearance of the nose in human evolution is not known. The nasal spine bone is a late adaptation and may have reinforced pre-existing cartilage which does not fossilize. The nose is thought to warm the air before it enters the sinuses, and lungs, a helpful adaptation in cold environments. The large noses of Neanderthals have been theorized as an adaptation to cold, dry areas, or possibly as a means of shedding heat within hot and humid regions; .^[2]

An article published in the speculative journal Medical Hypotheses suggested that the nose is an alteration of the angle of skull following human skeletal changes due to bipedalism. This changed the shape of the skull base causing, together with change in diet, a knock-on morphological reduction in the relative size of the maxillary and mandible and through this a "squeezing" of the protrusion of the most anterior parts of the face more forward and so increasing nose prominence and modifying its shape.^[3]

The aquatic ape hypothesis relates the nose to a hypothesized period of aquatic adaptation in which the downward-facing nostrils and flexible philtrum prevented water from entering the nasal cavities.^[4] The theory is not generally accepted by mainstream scholars of human evolution.^[5]

Famous noses

Socrates was well known for having a snub nose.

Fictional characters

• Gonzo the Great in the Muppets
• Erik, From "Phantom of the Opera" by Gaston Leroux, did not have a nose at all.
• Pinocchio, whose nose grew whenever he told a lie.
• Major Kovalyov in Nikolai Gogol's novel The Nose.
• Jack Nicholson in the film Chinatown (1974) by Roman Polanski
• The Penguin, in Batman comics.
• Cyrano de Bergerac from the famous play Cyrano de Bergerac (play) (he was also a real person).

Historical people

• Socrates had a snub nose which contributed to his perception, including self-perception, as ugly.^[6]
• Cleopatra
• Duke of Wellington - The first Duke of Wellington was so renowned for his large hooked nose that his troops gave him the nickname of 'Nosey'.
• Cyrano de Bergerac
• Tycho Brahe lost his nose in a duel and wore a prosthetic nose made of gold and silver

Actors, musicians, and other celebrities

• Michael Jackson known for having multiple plastic surgeries on his nose ^[7].
• Barry Manilow known for his large nose, often parodied ^[8][9]
• Pete Townshend, of the Who, has a famously large nose. His band-mate Roger Daltrey described him as a 'nose on a stick'^[10]
• Groucho Marx whose novelty item Groucho glasses, or 'nose glasses', have become synonymous with his comedic legacy.
• Owen Wilson is known for his nose which has been broken several times.
• Ringo Starr, whose nose is often poked fun at for its large size.
• Jimmy Durante, whose nickname was the Great Schnozzola.

See also

• Empty nose syndrome, a nose crippled by excessive resection of the inferior and/or middle turbinates of the nose
• Jala neti, an Ayurvedic technique of nasal cleansing
• Nasal sebum, the greasy substance on the outer part of the nose
• Sròn, the Scottish Gaelic word for nose and the name of some hills in the Scottish Highlands.

References

Further reading

• Eden Warwick (pseudonym of George Jabet), Nasology, or hints towards a classification of Noses, London, Richard Bentley, 1848
• Encyclopedia Britannica Micropedia, 1982

External links

Look up WikiSaurus:nose in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• From the Nose to the Eustachian Tube: Information, videos, tips for diving
• Your Nose: The Guardian Of Your Lungs

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