The culture and cure behind the wrestler’s cauliflower ear
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While wrestling in high school, Greg Harkins said he never wore protective head gear in tournaments or practices because it was too hot and too sweaty; a decision he now regrets.
Over time, Harkins developed a condition called auricular hematoma, which is more widely recognized as cauliflower ear.
Cauliflower ear is a bulbous deformity of the outer ear and is most prevalent among wrestlers, boxers and martial artists.
The condition results from injury to the external ear. When wrestlers compete, friction is created during “head to head” contact or “head to mat” contact. This friction causes a “sheer” injury to the cartilage of the ear. “Sheer” refers to the separation of the cartilage and skin, according to Dr. John Wilson, team physician for the University of Wisconsin-Madison football and wrestling team.
The term cauliflower ear comes from the appearance of the ear once the injury has progressed, often due to repeated blows to the ear from contact with a competitor’s head or the mat. As the condition worsens the cartilage begins to die.
The ear can “shrivel up and fold in on itself” and lighten in color, which creates an appearance similar to cauliflower, according to a report released by Medicine Net.
With traces of cauliflower ear still visible on one of his ears, Dr. Douglas Wyland, an orthopedic surgeon with Steadman Hawkins Clinic of the Carolinas in Spartanburg, S.C., said he didn’t wear his head gear in practice when he wrestled competitively in college.
A two-time All-American wrestler at the University of North Carolina, Wyland said the injury goes beyond the physical. “There’s a pride factor with wrestlers that is rather unique,” Wyland said, “The more their ear is screwed up the more they think they’re tough.”
Wyland stressed that getting athletes to come to the doctor early enough to get their ears drained is critical in curbing the prevalence of cauliflower ear.
When cauliflower ear develops, excess blood and fluid accumulate between the skin and cartilage and have to be drained.
Wilson described two primary treatments.The most common way is to numb the ear and use a needle to drain it.
Another alternative is to numb the ear and create a small incision with a scalpel at the site of the blood collection, which allows the blood and fluid to drain out.
If the athlete does not seek treatment within two to three days of having the initial injury, the blood collection between the skin and cartilage will begin to clot, the fluid will harden, and scar tissue will develop. After this happens, the ear becomes stiff and inflexible; making the injury nearly impossible to treat.
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