$Unique_ID{BRK01950} $Pretitle{} $Title{What do My Ear Lobes Say?} $Subject{Ear lobe Lobes earlobe health healthy independent independently personality personalities crease creased horizontal horizontally risk risks coronary heart disease diseases artery arteries genetic genetics factor factors attack attacks risk-factor risk-factors} $Volume{} $Log{} Copyright (c) 1993 Tribune Media Services, Inc. What do My Ear Lobes Say? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ QUESTION: My wife tells me that there are several very important elements of the face that can tell you about the character of the individual, and predict their future health. She has been going on about this for years, but I never thought to try and find out if any of this was true. Once and for all can you tell me what the significance of the ear lobe is in all of this, if you can? I will need it when she brings the subject up again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ANSWER: I have only heard two stories about the significance of ear lobes in my time, though there may be more. The first was that small ear lobes, that do not seem to hang independently from the face but are firmly attached to the cheek, is a sign of a criminal personality. According to the story, medical examiners performing autopsies on the cadavers of criminals noted a greater than average frequency of this configuration of ear lobes, and so developed the theory that there was a relationship between the two. I have never found any valid documentation of this, though I have searched for articles that might have confirmed this, or even mentioned the theory. Thus it remains just a story, a bit of interesting fiction for me. The second reference to the ear lobe concerns the deep crease that sometimes runs horizontally across the lower end of the lobe. According to the theory, people who possessed this trait were more at risk to develop coronary heart disease than those without the crease. That story has been floating around in the medical literature for many years. In 1983 a study of some 1000 patients seemed to show that there was a real relationship between the two, while a smaller study of some 234 patients failed to detect any relationship at all. And now there is yet another study, a pretty good one that reviewed over 1400 men and women. The conclusion was that the frequency of coronary artery disease associated with an ear lobe crease does exist and increases as the age advances beyond 70 years of age. It may be that the ear lobe crease deepens with age, just as the arteries become more affected by aging, or that there is a genetic linkage between the two, but physicians who read this article may now take a second look at their patients' ear lobes when trying to assess risk factors. One further note, having a deep ear crease does not in any way guarantee that a heart attack will occur, it is just another factor to consider in the complex process of evaluating a patient's heart health. ---------------- The material contained here is "FOR INFORMATION ONLY" and should not replace the counsel and advice of your personal physician. Promptly consulting your doctor is the best path to a quick and successful resolution of any medical problem.