Cauliflower ear (complication of hematoma auris, perichondrial hematoma, or traumatic auricular hematoma) is a condition that occurs when the external portion of the ear suffers a blow, blood clot or other collection of fluid under the perichondrium. This separates the cartilage from the overlying perichondrium that supplies its nutrients, causing it to die and resulting in the formation of fibrous tissue in the overlying skin. As a result, the outer ear becomes permanently swollen and deformed, resembling a cauliflower.
The condition is most common among boxers, wrestlers, mixed martial artists and forwards in rugby union.
Headgear (called a "scrum cap" in rugby, or simply "headgear" or earguard in wrestling and other martial arts) that protects the ears is worn in wrestling and rugby, many martial arts, and other contact sports to help prevent this condition. For some athletes, however, a cauliflower ear is considered a badge of courage or experience.
Famous quotes containing the words cauliflower and/or ear:
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—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“It seems that I must bid the Muse to pack,
Choose Plato and Plotinus for a friend
Until imagination, ear and eye,
Can be content with argument and deal
In abstract things; or be derided by
A sort of battered kettle at the heel.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)