Lend me your ear! Questions about Cauliflower ear.

Greetings, my fellow DL constituents:

After practice tonight, I got home feeling a little more beat up than usual. The left side of my face was giving me a little issue: basically, it hurt! I looked in the mirror to assess the damage to my manly mug, and wouldnt you know? I have frigging cauliflower ear!! I am not the prettiest dude to begin with, but this adds a whole other dimension to my dance card. A good buddy of mine, (a wrestler), told me to leave it. I have heard before that it is best to drain it. I dont own a syringe, contrary to what most of you may think. My questions are: 1) is it OK to leave it? I mean other than asthetics, will it be a big deal? 2) If I decide to get rid of it, how long do I have to drain it?? From what I understand, the fluid is gonna harden up soon, anyway. My right ear has a little tiny bit of it, from years back, but it is really hard to notice unless you're looking for it. (It sticks out a little more than it should) Hell, this left ear, though...it looks like a damned biscuit stuck to the side of my head! Whattya think, guys? Should it stay or should it go?? ANd, if it should go, how long do I have to drain this puppy?? Help a brother out!

-Wu

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Man for Sale: House-broken, current vaccinations, almost never humps your leg.

Get it treated quickly if you don't want the deformity. Basically Cauliflower ear is caused by the seperation of the skin from the cartilage in the ear. The cartilage gets it's nutrients from the skin connected to it. When you receive some trauma to the ear the skin separates and fills the area in between with blood, the cartilage looses it's sorce of nutients and dies. The cartilage starts to shrivel and fold over it's self as it dies, giving the cauliflower appearance. So research says to get it drained quickly so the skin reattaches it's self to the cartilage and to avoid infection. Of course with the mma craze going on, chicks may dig cauliflower ear now.

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“	Originally Posted By: WuSung Greetings, my fellow DL constituents: After practice tonight, I got home feeling a little more beat up than usual. The left side of my face was giving me a little issue: basically, it hurt! I looked in the mirror to assess the damage to my manly mug, and wouldnt you know? I have frigging cauliflower ear!! I am not the prettiest dude to begin with, but this adds a whole other dimension to my dance card. A good buddy of mine, (a wrestler), told me to leave it. I have heard before that it is best to drain it. I dont own a syringe, contrary to what most of you may think. My questions are: 1) is it OK to leave it? I mean other than asthetics, will it be a big deal? 2) If I decide to get rid of it, how long do I have to drain it?? From what I understand, the fluid is gonna harden up soon, anyway. My right ear has a little tiny bit of it, from years back, but it is really hard to notice unless you're looking for it. (It sticks out a little more than it should) Hell, this left ear, though...it looks like a damned biscuit stuck to the side of my head! Whattya think, guys? Should it stay or should it go?? ANd, if it should go, how long do I have to drain this puppy?? Help a brother out! -Wu	”

If you don't get it drained very soon you might as well stop worrying about it; it is too late. Anyway, who cares? Take it as a badge of honor. Unless its just horrenous, it won't affect your hearing.

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Wolfgang says:

I could think of a million better things to do in Japan for a month besides jumping off of picnic tables. - x893

Thanks, guys. Yeah, I have no way of getting it drained unless I went to an emergency room. Dont know if this is an emergency. It is now damned near 24 hours later, so it may be too late. Guess this guy is staying. Now I gotta just pray for the right ear to do the same. I may be ugly, but there's no need in being asymmetrical.

-Wu

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Man for Sale: House-broken, current vaccinations, almost never humps your leg.

great...one more thing for me to be paranoid about.

Check out wikipedia for treatment options. I read around and it looks like you have about 10 days to get the thing treated.

Cauliflower ear - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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1. Research your own experience
2. Absorb what is useful
3. Reject what is useless
4. Add what is essentially your own

Thanks, Ace. I still have options, then. What I dont have is medical insurance. I will mull it over. Like I said: does it really matter as ugly as I am? Have a good one! For the record, all the guys at the gym say to leave it, like Unk said. Maybe I will, since it doesnt affect my hearing.

Later!!--Wu

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Man for Sale: House-broken, current vaccinations, almost never humps your leg.

same boat here. I don't have medical insurance for another three weeks or so. Up until now, I've only been paranoid about having teeth knocked out.

I don't think having it drained would be all that expensive, but I'm sure the antibiotics would cost an arm and a leg.

The cheapest alternative is to find a girl you trust and ask if it's really all that noticeable. you might get lucky on that one.

__________________
1. Research your own experience
2. Absorb what is useful
3. Reject what is useless
4. Add what is essentially your own

“	Originally Posted By: Unkotare If you don't get it drained very soon you might as well stop worrying about it; it is too late. Anyway, who cares? Take it as a badge of honor. Unless its just horrenous, it won't affect your hearing.	”

if you're too late and don't like it you can get some correction work done, but do it after you actually quit

but remember: it's not an injury, it's a trophy....

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“	Question Authority. Question Society. Question Reality. Question Yourself. Question your conclusions, your judgments, your answers. Question this. If you question everything thoroughly enough, the truth will eventually hit you upside the head and you will know. But here’s a warning: It won’t be what you imagined. It won’t be even close.	”

all hail Martyr Fakka

here's a do-it-yourself vid from one of the mixfight.nl members...

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“	Question Authority. Question Society. Question Reality. Question Yourself. Question your conclusions, your judgments, your answers. Question this. If you question everything thoroughly enough, the truth will eventually hit you upside the head and you will know. But here’s a warning: It won’t be what you imagined. It won’t be even close.	”

all hail Martyr Fakka

If you don't have Med Insurance, most hospitals will work with you to handle it through a Social Medicine program and thus you won't have to handle the payment, or it will cost significantly less.
Can always ask the Register Nurse for help with that and they'll direct you on how to go about it.

I just did a grappling/ground work seminar with Tim Cartmell this weekend...and my ears hurt from all the escapes! You think they would come up with some sort of ear protection...on the other hand...guys...protection...oh forget it...

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??...That is an informative vid there, Chiefy. Thanks. My coach told me to come in later and he will drain it for me...then he called me a p***y. Ah, maturity...

-Wu

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Man for Sale: House-broken, current vaccinations, almost never humps your leg.

Ok, I'm going to have to rep you just for having the guts to have a coach drain you...

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So, what happened with the ear? How is it healing?

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I must not fear.Fear is the mind-killer.Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.I will face my fear.I will permit it to pass over me & through me.& when it has gone I will turn to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.Only I will remain.F.Herbert

“	Originally Posted By: aaradia So, what happened with the ear? How is it healing?	”

Well, I got it drained. That was strange. It was sore for a few days, to be sure. It is a strange brownish-mauve color. A bruise or old blood I guess. Even though it was drained, it looks a bit fatter than the other one! I dont know why..

However, as long as the nasty bruise goes away, I am fine with the fatness.

-Wu

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Man for Sale: House-broken, current vaccinations, almost never humps your leg.