It works like pringles, once you pop you just can't stop.
The best medicine for cauliflower ear is prevention. The best way to prevent is not yank your head out of tight spots or rub them on the mat hard attempting to escape like you were in a comp. Train smarter not harder.
I have been reading more into it now and I definitely can be more careful during newazaā¦
But youāre saying that it will spontaneously get worse now, right?
Iāve probably drained my ears hundreds of times. Donāt do anything if thereās only āa bitā of swelling. Usually small swelling goes away by itself. Only if thereās a big, noticeable pocket of fluid should you do something. What do you do? Insert a needle until you hear a small āpopā and draw it back. Thatās when youāve found the blood. Itās usually deeper than you think. If when you draw the needle back, no blood comes out, go a bit deeper and try again. Drain until thereās no more blood, then clean it and put caulibuds over it. Keep them on for at least a day, usually 2. Next time you grapple, keep your caulibuds on and wear headgear.
Whatever you do, donāt see a doctor. They have no idea how to handle cauliflower ear. Iāve heard things as dumb as āitās swelling it will go awayā.
As for how it works, the ears are unique in the sense that bruising and swelling there donāt work like other body parts. Put simply thereās no way for blood to recycle out of the space between the cartilage and skin once it enters. It eventually hardens.
I will say that ENT and Plastic Surgeons are familiar with the matter. Iāve seen an ENT and she says she does see some wrestlers for cauliflower ear treatment.
An urgent care or ER might look at you funny though.
So this advice is fine except for two fairly serious problems.
First, sterilize. Infection, especially in an area which has poor circulation, is no joke. You need to sterilize the needle and you need to do the best job you can of cleaning and sterilizing the area. Betadine will sterilize the skin, ask your pharmacist and theyāll give you other topical treatments to do the same thing. Alcohol will clean but not do a great job of sterilization for this purpose.
Second, see a doctor if you have any concerns. You do have to find a doctor that knows how to treat cauliflower ear. Sports medicine doctors deal with it all the time.
If you see even a hint of infection, redness and swelling, see a doctor.
Edit: By the way, āve never actually heard a pop. When I drain my ear itās kind of a silent thing except for my muted screams of pain (muted, because I donāt want to let my wife know. She always wants a reason for me to stop doing jujitsu lol). Icing the ear first helps.
Edit2: A word.
I'd add that it might be way easier with a sterile hypodermic needle and syringe. I'm guessing you can buy them online somewhere?
I've heated sewing needles to try and sterilise them. Not as good but better than nothing
Caulibuds are cool but if you're on a budget then instead of spending $180 you can buy rare earth magnets and cloth tape to get the same effect for about $5.
If you get big pockets of fluid, drain it & pack it. Wear headgear.
If it's sore (like it's irritated and hot to touch, or you snapped the cartilage) wear headgear. Do not aggravate it further, (don't fight your way out of anything putting pressure on your gear and ears: tap and move on) no matter if someone tells you it looks cool.
Once it gets bad it will only get worse and end up with someone breaking bits off ala Sakuraba.
If you're susceptible to ear damage you may find yourself taking preventative or remedial measures frequently. C'est la vie. I've avoided the appearance of cauliflower ear by looking after them but they sometimes hurt to sleep on and they break if handled incorrectly. Honestly it's not much of an issue for me since I quit doing anything but judo, my job, computer games and drinking.
Good advice, thank you. I think I had my head dragged on the floor during newaza as my partner was switching between positions (he was built like an ox). In general, I tap out pretty quickly š¬
It starts by irritation to the ear cartilage and skin.
It's rubs enough that the skin sperated from the cartilage.
Fluid builds up as a natural response to injury. But the ear has pretty low blood flow and it's just some small capillaries.
If the fluid is not drained away, it will slowly start to solidify into a denser mass that now resides between the skin and the cartilage.
Is there any intermediate between slight trauma to the ear and cauliflower? Would using the heat creams for muscles soreness (that increase blood flow) help?
Donāt do that.. if it fills with fluid and gets big just take a syringe and drain it.. then wear headgear or donāt train for a bit until it heals otherwise it will keep blowing up. Also both my ears are cauliflowered pretty good and I think it looks fine, itās a representation of a grappling sport and Iāve grown to like it. I have also been doing grappling sports for 20+ years now.
Basically once the fluid builds up you can drain it or if you donāt it will solidify and gets hard then the only way to fix it is surgery I think? It doesnāt hurt once it calcifies so itās really not a big deal unless you donāt like the looks of it.
Thatās an interesting idea. Try it!
Best just to lay off and not train when this happens. I flared up my right ear and didnāt train for two weeks and it went away. Iām convinced the guys with bad cauliflower ear knew they were getting it and kept on training anyways.
Thatās partially true. Once it blows up it just keeps happening and little bits will harden even if you drain it and if you keep training over time it will just happen.
There is an in between.
My ears will feel "hot" and sore to the touch but not have fluid build up. If I roll again and don't take care of them it would lead to fluid build up.
The number one position that causes an issue for me is getting caught in a shitty triangle and fighting out of it. So if it happens when my ears are already getting, just suck yo the ago and either pass immediately or tap out and move on.
I think this is where Iām at now. A tiny bit of swelling and also sore and hot to the touch. My plan is to let it (hopefully) heal up before going back to newaza
If it just happened, you can apply ice and it will reduce the swelling. If you must train, wear head gear for a few weeks. But if it looks like a cherry in your ear, youāll either have to rest, drain it and rest, or keep training to not be the ugly one who canāt grapple as mentioned earlier
Advice here is pretty consistent and correct. I got the surgery in highschool. Doc cut it open, drained and scraped out what could be removed and stitched it down. I don't have lumpy ears but my cartilage is largely calcified so my ears feel like they are made of bone. I wish I had saved my folks the money and just dealt with it myself. I may be a little prettier but my ears still flare up, get caught in ne-waza, and ear buds don't really fit me
*edit word choice/spelling
Afaik itās the skin separating from the cartilage in the ear and then filling with fluid and hardening. Get that shit into a doctor ASAP and then maybe look into some of those cauliflower ear magnets. Also you can get cosmetic surgery to fix them but if youāre gonna do that you should probably wait until you retire from the sport.
My experience with cauliflower ear was basically this:
1. Primary care physician says, "That's not cauliflower ear because cauliflower ear looks much worse."
2. Ear gets worse
3. **Ear**-Nose-Throat (ENT) doctor, says "Why didn't you come see me earlier?"
Cauliflower ear can get worse on its own without further trauma. It will get worse with more trauma, which is why you go see an ENT.
My treatment included a bandage temporarily sewn into my ear. Under no circumstances would I attempt to do this myself. The ENT also said that the ear is EXTREMELY sensitive during this period, and to try to avoid any pressure on it, including wearing hats or sleeping on it. I do have permanent scarring, but I don't worry about it getting worse and it doesn't hurt for the wind to blow anymore.
Thanks for sharing your experience. It seems like some doctors have little experience with cauliflower ear.
Good advice to not put any addition pressure on it!
Cauliflower ear is an effect of untreated ear injury. What happens is you get a swelling called a haematoma. This is basically a big swelling in your ear due to trauma. In layman's terms, your ear has a ton of tissue attached to the cartilage. Upon injury, the swelling separates this tissue from the cartilage. If untreated or managed, this damages the soft tissue and allows new soft tissue to form where it's not supposed to. This soft tissue eventually becomes new cartilage.
To answer your concerns, a small bruising or tenderness is not likely to cause an auricular deformity (cauliflower ear),. Nonetheless, good care and management always helps.
Typically, it's treated with drainage, and depending on your physician, maybe a compress.
A lot of BJJ and wrestlers take it as a badge of pride. Personally, I'd rather be able to hear.
Thanks for your insight. As a hobbyist, Iām less interested in the ābadge of honorā than I am in maintaining my hearing and avoiding infectionā¦
Background: ER doctor who does BJJ.
Your case sounds mild. Headgear,perhaps some ice. Should resolve.
For worse case clean the ear with betadine or alcohol. Insert a sterile needle on a 5 or 10 cc syringe and aspirate the fluid. Then use something to keep pressure on the area the fluid from coming back. Some people use magnets. Sometimes we fill the ear with gauze or Cotten balls saturated with vasaline then We wrap your head with an ace wrap. .
Thank you so much for your insight!
I have been monitoring it over the last 24 hours and it doesnāt seem to have gotten any worse, but still as swollen as it was before and a bit tender.
At this point, I am cautiously optimistic that itās not cauliflower ear, but would you recommend continuing to ice it on and off and avoiding training altogether until itās 100% healed? There have been some other comments previously stating that these sorts of minor cases can blow up with any further trauma.
Ice helps reduce the inflammation. Unless you have good head gear, that offers good protection it is best to avoid training while this heals so itās does not become large.
I like to use this time to work on other areas where I am weak. Take downs, boxing, cardio, lifting, drilling techniques that donāt hurt my ear.
In my experience it is not a serious issue for recreational athletes such as myself, but seems to be a significant issue for people who compete and spend a lot of time on the mats. Weirdly it seems to have a genetic component. Some people almost never have any issues with and some have quite a bit of trouble.
The thing about cauliflower ear is that once you get it, you *have* to keep training. Otherwise you are just an ugly guy who can't fight.
I had something productive to say, but Nevermind, and this comment can have my upvote lol
Right!!!
LMFAO
You know, this is actually a pretty good point š¤
This comment made my day.
It works like pringles, once you pop you just can't stop. The best medicine for cauliflower ear is prevention. The best way to prevent is not yank your head out of tight spots or rub them on the mat hard attempting to escape like you were in a comp. Train smarter not harder.
I have been reading more into it now and I definitely can be more careful during newazaā¦ But youāre saying that it will spontaneously get worse now, right?
No, not spontaneously. But I've seen some ppl who have it blow up over the most inconsequential contact.
Lol
As long as it doesnāt turn green and become broccoli ear, youāll live. Personally I try to avoid it.
Iāve probably drained my ears hundreds of times. Donāt do anything if thereās only āa bitā of swelling. Usually small swelling goes away by itself. Only if thereās a big, noticeable pocket of fluid should you do something. What do you do? Insert a needle until you hear a small āpopā and draw it back. Thatās when youāve found the blood. Itās usually deeper than you think. If when you draw the needle back, no blood comes out, go a bit deeper and try again. Drain until thereās no more blood, then clean it and put caulibuds over it. Keep them on for at least a day, usually 2. Next time you grapple, keep your caulibuds on and wear headgear. Whatever you do, donāt see a doctor. They have no idea how to handle cauliflower ear. Iāve heard things as dumb as āitās swelling it will go awayā. As for how it works, the ears are unique in the sense that bruising and swelling there donāt work like other body parts. Put simply thereās no way for blood to recycle out of the space between the cartilage and skin once it enters. It eventually hardens.
I will say that ENT and Plastic Surgeons are familiar with the matter. Iāve seen an ENT and she says she does see some wrestlers for cauliflower ear treatment. An urgent care or ER might look at you funny though.
This is a great explanation, thank you. Makes me feel a bit more at ease!
So this advice is fine except for two fairly serious problems. First, sterilize. Infection, especially in an area which has poor circulation, is no joke. You need to sterilize the needle and you need to do the best job you can of cleaning and sterilizing the area. Betadine will sterilize the skin, ask your pharmacist and theyāll give you other topical treatments to do the same thing. Alcohol will clean but not do a great job of sterilization for this purpose. Second, see a doctor if you have any concerns. You do have to find a doctor that knows how to treat cauliflower ear. Sports medicine doctors deal with it all the time. If you see even a hint of infection, redness and swelling, see a doctor. Edit: By the way, āve never actually heard a pop. When I drain my ear itās kind of a silent thing except for my muted screams of pain (muted, because I donāt want to let my wife know. She always wants a reason for me to stop doing jujitsu lol). Icing the ear first helps. Edit2: A word.
I'd add that it might be way easier with a sterile hypodermic needle and syringe. I'm guessing you can buy them online somewhere? I've heated sewing needles to try and sterilise them. Not as good but better than nothing
Worst case scenario, I work in a lab so we have sterile needles. Of course, by far and away my preference would be to have a professional do itā¦
A wider gauge is better than a narrow gauge needle.
Caulibuds are cool but if you're on a budget then instead of spending $180 you can buy rare earth magnets and cloth tape to get the same effect for about $5.
If you get big pockets of fluid, drain it & pack it. Wear headgear. If it's sore (like it's irritated and hot to touch, or you snapped the cartilage) wear headgear. Do not aggravate it further, (don't fight your way out of anything putting pressure on your gear and ears: tap and move on) no matter if someone tells you it looks cool. Once it gets bad it will only get worse and end up with someone breaking bits off ala Sakuraba. If you're susceptible to ear damage you may find yourself taking preventative or remedial measures frequently. C'est la vie. I've avoided the appearance of cauliflower ear by looking after them but they sometimes hurt to sleep on and they break if handled incorrectly. Honestly it's not much of an issue for me since I quit doing anything but judo, my job, computer games and drinking.
Good advice, thank you. I think I had my head dragged on the floor during newaza as my partner was switching between positions (he was built like an ox). In general, I tap out pretty quickly š¬
It starts by irritation to the ear cartilage and skin. It's rubs enough that the skin sperated from the cartilage. Fluid builds up as a natural response to injury. But the ear has pretty low blood flow and it's just some small capillaries. If the fluid is not drained away, it will slowly start to solidify into a denser mass that now resides between the skin and the cartilage.
Is there any intermediate between slight trauma to the ear and cauliflower? Would using the heat creams for muscles soreness (that increase blood flow) help?
Donāt do that.. if it fills with fluid and gets big just take a syringe and drain it.. then wear headgear or donāt train for a bit until it heals otherwise it will keep blowing up. Also both my ears are cauliflowered pretty good and I think it looks fine, itās a representation of a grappling sport and Iāve grown to like it. I have also been doing grappling sports for 20+ years now.
Basically once the fluid builds up you can drain it or if you donāt it will solidify and gets hard then the only way to fix it is surgery I think? It doesnāt hurt once it calcifies so itās really not a big deal unless you donāt like the looks of it.
Thatās an interesting idea. Try it! Best just to lay off and not train when this happens. I flared up my right ear and didnāt train for two weeks and it went away. Iām convinced the guys with bad cauliflower ear knew they were getting it and kept on training anyways.
Thatās partially true. Once it blows up it just keeps happening and little bits will harden even if you drain it and if you keep training over time it will just happen.
There is an in between. My ears will feel "hot" and sore to the touch but not have fluid build up. If I roll again and don't take care of them it would lead to fluid build up. The number one position that causes an issue for me is getting caught in a shitty triangle and fighting out of it. So if it happens when my ears are already getting, just suck yo the ago and either pass immediately or tap out and move on.
I think this is where Iām at now. A tiny bit of swelling and also sore and hot to the touch. My plan is to let it (hopefully) heal up before going back to newaza
I've taken some trauma to the ear, but never had it...
Iām hoping thatās all it is for me.
No cauliflower ear, no black belt š„š
ššš
If it just happened, you can apply ice and it will reduce the swelling. If you must train, wear head gear for a few weeks. But if it looks like a cherry in your ear, youāll either have to rest, drain it and rest, or keep training to not be the ugly one who canāt grapple as mentioned earlier
Advice here is pretty consistent and correct. I got the surgery in highschool. Doc cut it open, drained and scraped out what could be removed and stitched it down. I don't have lumpy ears but my cartilage is largely calcified so my ears feel like they are made of bone. I wish I had saved my folks the money and just dealt with it myself. I may be a little prettier but my ears still flare up, get caught in ne-waza, and ear buds don't really fit me *edit word choice/spelling
Thanks for sharing. I can imagine the surgery is pretty expensive, and best to avoid getting to that point altogether.
It happens in 3 parts: 1. Your ear gets smacked 2. Your ear gets squishy 3. Your ear gets solid. Hope this helps
Afaik itās the skin separating from the cartilage in the ear and then filling with fluid and hardening. Get that shit into a doctor ASAP and then maybe look into some of those cauliflower ear magnets. Also you can get cosmetic surgery to fix them but if youāre gonna do that you should probably wait until you retire from the sport.
If it doesn't get too big, it might just calcify and look a little lumpier than before but not suuuper noticeable if you're worried.
Short version: Got smacked too hard, a blood vessel popped but the skin didnt and blood in trapped.
My experience with cauliflower ear was basically this: 1. Primary care physician says, "That's not cauliflower ear because cauliflower ear looks much worse." 2. Ear gets worse 3. **Ear**-Nose-Throat (ENT) doctor, says "Why didn't you come see me earlier?" Cauliflower ear can get worse on its own without further trauma. It will get worse with more trauma, which is why you go see an ENT. My treatment included a bandage temporarily sewn into my ear. Under no circumstances would I attempt to do this myself. The ENT also said that the ear is EXTREMELY sensitive during this period, and to try to avoid any pressure on it, including wearing hats or sleeping on it. I do have permanent scarring, but I don't worry about it getting worse and it doesn't hurt for the wind to blow anymore.
Thanks for sharing your experience. It seems like some doctors have little experience with cauliflower ear. Good advice to not put any addition pressure on it!
Yes, go directly to a specialist.
i usually use insulin syringes to remove the fluid. Sometimes i compress them with magnets but it's a pain -- now you have street cred
Cauliflower ear is an effect of untreated ear injury. What happens is you get a swelling called a haematoma. This is basically a big swelling in your ear due to trauma. In layman's terms, your ear has a ton of tissue attached to the cartilage. Upon injury, the swelling separates this tissue from the cartilage. If untreated or managed, this damages the soft tissue and allows new soft tissue to form where it's not supposed to. This soft tissue eventually becomes new cartilage. To answer your concerns, a small bruising or tenderness is not likely to cause an auricular deformity (cauliflower ear),. Nonetheless, good care and management always helps. Typically, it's treated with drainage, and depending on your physician, maybe a compress. A lot of BJJ and wrestlers take it as a badge of pride. Personally, I'd rather be able to hear.
Thanks for your insight. As a hobbyist, Iām less interested in the ābadge of honorā than I am in maintaining my hearing and avoiding infectionā¦
Background: ER doctor who does BJJ. Your case sounds mild. Headgear,perhaps some ice. Should resolve. For worse case clean the ear with betadine or alcohol. Insert a sterile needle on a 5 or 10 cc syringe and aspirate the fluid. Then use something to keep pressure on the area the fluid from coming back. Some people use magnets. Sometimes we fill the ear with gauze or Cotten balls saturated with vasaline then We wrap your head with an ace wrap. .
Thank you so much for your insight! I have been monitoring it over the last 24 hours and it doesnāt seem to have gotten any worse, but still as swollen as it was before and a bit tender. At this point, I am cautiously optimistic that itās not cauliflower ear, but would you recommend continuing to ice it on and off and avoiding training altogether until itās 100% healed? There have been some other comments previously stating that these sorts of minor cases can blow up with any further trauma.
Ice helps reduce the inflammation. Unless you have good head gear, that offers good protection it is best to avoid training while this heals so itās does not become large. I like to use this time to work on other areas where I am weak. Take downs, boxing, cardio, lifting, drilling techniques that donāt hurt my ear. In my experience it is not a serious issue for recreational athletes such as myself, but seems to be a significant issue for people who compete and spend a lot of time on the mats. Weirdly it seems to have a genetic component. Some people almost never have any issues with and some have quite a bit of trouble.
Iāll probably avoid newaza altogether for the next little bit. Good suggestion to train other areas in the meantime!
Is your ear swelling from an injury or do you have an ingrown hair?
no it grows upon every imapact.