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01950.txt
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1994-01-17
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$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?
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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.
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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.
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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.