Cauliflower Ear

Or medically known as perichondral hematoma is when the skin that is attached to the cartilage are separated from each other. Through the skin runs the blood vessels, but when the skin is no longer attached to the cartilage, the blood vessels are broken and the blood pools in the cavity that has been formed. As seen above, a big bulbous blob forms on the ear and one appeared on my right ear in late June. It didn't hurt, but it was very apparent. I saw my doctor who referred me to another doctor in the Kaiser system who would take care of it. Back in mid-July, I went to the French campus of Kaiser San Francisco and Dr. Ward (the new doctor) was located on a floor that was named "Head & Neck Surgery." That was a bit scary in and of itself. He drained it and put stitches in it and told me to come back a week later to have the stitches taken out. Usually, just draining the hematoma (blood in a cavity under the skin) is all that is needed for the skin to reattach to the cartilage, with minimal deformation. I did as was told and after the second visit, the swelling came back again, this time with a bigger blob on my ear. So, yesterday I went back and it was time to take even more drastic measures. Dr. Ward drained the blood, then made and incision in the back of my ear (so as not to have the scar on the front) and then for a couple minutes pressed on all different parts of my ear to get all the blood and goo out. He put a wet cotton ball in the top of the ear to preserve the shape of the ear and then wrapped me up like this....

So, I'm sitting here writing to you looking like a cartoon character. The ear actually hurts most when I talk or have to open my mouth up wide to eat. I go back today to have it drained again and then have a new wrapping put on. I think tomorrow I get the bandage off for good.

So why did this occur? Well, usually these things happen to wrestlers, boxers or anyone who has had some kind of trauma to that part of the ear to cause the separation of skin and cartilage to occur. I have no idea what happened, but I don't remember being hit by anything. The only thing I can think of is that when I put on the strap of my bookbag it may smash my ear against my head and that my have caused it, but who knows. Hopefully, I won't have any significant deformation of the ear. But in the grand scheme of things, I could have worse problems.