First of all it is important to know what it is and why it appears. The cauliflower ear is a rare and unusual occurrence of a disease commonly in the ears of boxers, rugby players and wrestlers. It also appears in the ears of athletes.
Maybe some time ago, the cauliflower ear had been something for the athletes to be proud of. In fact rugby players are still very proud that they have the cauliflower ear which looks like the ear was de-shaped and puffy which happens to be so because of rough contact at sports. However, more than being ugly to look at it can cause a lot of hearing problems. At one time, cauliflower ear gave a certain sense of pride to athletes. Some still wear them as stark trophies from their sport and don’t feel bad about their miss happening or puffy ear at all. But cauliflower ear has more to it than just looking ugly; it can further cause severe problems even something as big as loss of hearing.
How is this problem caused to the external ear? Well, this happens due to external trauma of the ears. This is a physical trauma like getting hit or any impact which can cause the trauma. Here some tissues and the cartilage in the ear break up and these spaces in the ear get filled up with blood, wax or other fluids. The appearance of the outer starts resembling a cauliflower as it becomes bumpy and uneven. Not only does the appearance look irregular, there are the problems of hearing and smell.
Hearing loss can be permanent. The accumulation of fluids may cause pressure on other ear areas. Being tender to touch the ear also undergoes pain and occasionally when there is a puncture to the ear the fluids escape and can cause plenty of pain and smell. The situation can be helped with pain killing medication and antibiotics.
A person suffering from cauliflower ear can take steps to treat the disease. Steps can be taken to relieve pain in the affected ear as well as reduce tenderness. You can take over the counter medication like pain killers. Go to a doctor and get the fluid in the ear drained. Sometimes the doctor might give you steroidal shots to stop any internal bleeding of the affected ear. For a cosmetic treatment, a person may have to be operated upon and the ear dressed down to look normal. You can get plastic surgery done to make the ear look normal. The doctor uses a sterilized needle to drain off the excess fluids from the affected ear. This also reduces the chances of the infection spreading to other areas of the ear.
Any further leaking and bleeding should be informed to the doctor immediately. The doctor will then remove any more fluid collected in the ear. By keeping the ear clean and taking pain killers one can survive very well with a cauliflower ear.
