Yes, nostrils can get bigger. Aging is the most common cause, but habits, medical conditions, and injury can also change nostril size over time. The changes are usually gradual, happening over years or decades rather than overnight.
What Determines Nostril Size
Your nostril shape is set by a framework of small cartilages called the alar cartilages, which form the outer nostril walls and the nasal tip. These sit beneath layers of skin, fat, and muscle that vary in thickness from person to person. The skin over the alar cartilages is denser than the skin higher up on the nose, which is part of why the lower nose feels firmer to the touch.
A ligament connecting the skin to the cartilage also influences how much the nasal tip projects or droops. Thicker soft tissue tends to create a bulkier tip, while thinner tissue shows the cartilage shape more clearly. Because all of these structures differ between individuals, two people with similar cartilage frameworks can have noticeably different nostril shapes.
How Aging Changes the Nose
Aging is the biggest reason nostrils appear to grow larger over time. The nose doesn’t stop changing after puberty the way most bones do, because its shape depends heavily on cartilage and soft tissue, both of which continue to shift throughout life.
Several things happen simultaneously. The skin loses elasticity and becomes less able to hold its shape tightly around the cartilage underneath. Fat beneath the skin thins out. The nasal tip gradually drops downward, a process called tip ptosis, which can make the nostrils look wider and more visible from the front. Sun exposure and gravity accelerate these changes. Bone resorption in the midface, where the upper jaw slowly loses volume with age, can also reduce the structural support beneath the nose, allowing it to spread slightly.
The result is a nose that looks longer, wider at the base, and less defined at the tip. This is normal and nearly universal, though the pace and degree vary widely.
Can Habits Stretch Your Nostrils?
A common worry is that habitual nose picking, frequent nostril flaring, or wearing heavy jewelry might permanently widen the nostrils. The evidence is more nuanced than a simple yes or no.
Chronic nose picking (rhinotillexomania) doesn’t stretch the nostril open the way you might expect. In a documented clinical case, a patient who compulsively picked one nostril for years actually developed narrowing of that nostril, not widening. The repeated trauma caused cycles of inflammation and tissue overgrowth. Over time, the swollen tissue expanded inward, partially blocking the nasal opening. So ironically, aggressive picking is more likely to make a nostril smaller and harder to breathe through, not bigger.
Voluntary nostril flaring uses muscles around the nose, particularly the nasalis muscle, whose lateral fibers widen the nostrils when they contract. However, research on these muscles found that even hyperactive nasal muscles did not produce lasting changes in nostril width at rest. In one study, 96% of people showed increased nostril flaring while smiling, but muscle activity during expressions didn’t translate into permanent structural widening. Facial muscles are thin and don’t bulk up the way biceps or quads do.
Heavy septum jewelry is a different story. Large, weighted pieces can gradually stretch cartilage and soft tissue over months or years, similar to how earlobe gauges work. If you wear progressively heavier septum rings, the tissue can deform permanently, changing nostril shape. This is an intentional modification for some people, but worth knowing if you’re trying to avoid it.
Medical Conditions That Enlarge the Nose
Rhinophyma is the most well-known medical condition that causes the nose, including the nostrils, to physically enlarge. It develops as the final stage of rosacea, the common skin condition that causes facial redness and flushing. In rhinophyma, oil-producing glands in the nasal skin proliferate abnormally, and the connective tissue underneath thickens. The lower two-thirds of the nose is affected most, with the nasal tip and the fleshy sides of the nostrils (the alae) expanding preferentially.
Rhinophyma is graded by severity. In its mildest form, the skin simply thickens slightly with visible blood vessels. Moderate cases develop distinct lobes or bumps. Major rhinophyma produces prominent nodules and significant nasal enlargement that changes the nose’s contour. The underlying bone stays the same size; it’s purely a soft tissue overgrowth. Rhinophyma is diagnosed by appearance, with persistent redness, visible blood vessels, and progressive skin thickening in the nasal area as the hallmarks. It’s far more common in men and typically appears after age 40.
Trauma and Surgical Changes
Injury to the nose can change nostril size in either direction. When the lining inside the nostril is damaged, whether from an accident, surgery, or infection, scar tissue forms during healing. That scar tissue tends to contract, pulling the nostril walls inward and making the opening smaller. The constant negative pressure from breathing through the nose adds to this contracting force. So trauma more often narrows nostrils than widens them.
Rhinoplasty can also produce unintended changes. If too much tissue is removed during procedures to narrow the nostrils, the resulting instability can cause the remaining structures to shift in unpredictable ways. Complications include notching of the nostril rim, flattening of the nostril walls, and asymmetry between the two sides. These are relatively uncommon with experienced surgeons, but they illustrate how the nose’s delicate balance of cartilage, skin, and scar tissue determines final shape.
What You Can Actually Do About It
If your nostrils are gradually getting wider with age, there’s no exercise, cream, or device that will reverse the process. The structural changes in cartilage and skin happen on a timeline you can’t meaningfully alter with topical treatments. Sun protection may slow some skin aging, but it won’t prevent cartilage changes or tip drooping.
For noticeable age-related widening or tip drooping, rhinoplasty is the only intervention that produces significant change. Surgeons can refine the nasal tip, narrow the nostril base, and restore projection that gravity has taken away. If rhinophyma is the cause, the excess tissue can be removed through surgical shaving, laser treatment, or other tissue-reduction techniques, with good cosmetic results in most cases.
For everyday concerns, the reassuring takeaway is that normal activities like breathing, occasional nose picking, or making faces won’t meaningfully change your nostril size. The changes that do occur are driven by deeper biological processes, primarily aging, and they happen slowly enough that most people adapt without ever noticing a dramatic shift.