A longitudinal study of nose growth from ages 6 to 18.

The purpose of this study was to investigate nose maturation by cephalometric sagittal surface area methodology longitudinally in males and females. Both males and females exhibited a statistically significant continuum of nose growth from ages 6 to 18. Growth ceased in both sexes at age 18. Correlation coefficients indicated that males' noses tended to be either large or small in all dimensions from ages 6 to 18. The same was not true for females. A major finding of possible clinical importance was that maturity is reached at age 12 in girls with 84% of adult area, and in boys at age 15 with 87% of adult size.