When you first started out in Jiu Jitsu, you may have noticed some of the moreseasoned competitor’s ears. Some of these intimidating individuals seem tohave severely mangled their ears and you wonder what happened? Well they gotcauliflower ears.
For those that aren’t familiar with this injury may be wondering, what is acauliflower ear?Cauliflower ear/BJJ ear is a grappling related injury that can happen toindividuals that train/compete in combat sports as well as other sports suchas rugby. When the ear is struck hard enough the skin and cartilage separatecausing the ear to swell up. The end result is a hematoma leaving an eardisfigured resembling a piece of cauliflower, hence the name cauliflowerear.
How Does Cauliflower Ear Happen?
As stated above cauliflower ear happens when the ear is struck or scraped hardenough to separate the skin and cartilage. It can happen for a variety ofdifferent reasons depending on the form of grappling.
- Wrestling: In wrestling cauliflower ear can happen fromeither takedowns, clinching, and clubbing to break an opponent’sposture. Many old school wrestlers who didn’t wear headgear duringtraining have some nasty ears.
- BJJ/Judo: In BJJ/Judo, when gi is involved it can rip orscrap the ears when gi chokes are attempted. While in no gi, cauliflower earcan happen like in wrestling or during choke attempts. Trying to get out ofa tight guillotine when your ear is stuck can definitely give you acauliflower ear.
- MMA/Kickboxing: Cauliflower ear also happens in MMA orKickboxing if the ear is hit with a strike(s). A punch or kick to the earmay result in a case of cauliflower ear along with some eardrum damage.
Is Cauliflower Ear Cool?
Some people see a cauliflower ear as a badge of honor showing that they trainJiu Jitsu. But at the end of the day is it really cool to have a cauliflowerear?
Cauliflower Ear is an injury that leaves your ear disfiguredand if severe enough can lead to hearing loss.
The treatment for Jiu Jitsu ear is also a pain to go through. It can lead toextended time off the mat with a severe enough case.
Who Is More Likely To Get Cauliflower Ear?
Some people have said that cauliflower ears only happen to those that have putsignificant time on the mat. But that would be an outright lie. Many peoplereading this probably have a white belt teammate that has dealt with thisinjury.
The truth is anybody with any amount of training can get cauliflower ears.Accidents happen and an injury is just something that can happen in training.One bad accidental knee or elbow can lead to an annoying case of cauliflowerear.
How Can You Prevent Cauliflower Ear?
There is only one way to prevent cauliflower ear, and that is by usingheadgear. Headgear or ear guards are a protective piece of equipment thatgrapplers use to protect their ears.
If you don’t want to have knotted up ears, then you’re going to need to wearsome headgear. Joe Rogan is a big advocate of wearing headgear, while trainingand never does without them. Being in the entertainment industry, he can’tafford having gnarly looking ears and believes everyone should be wearingthem.
Generally, there are two types of headgear/ear guards. Headgear with hardplastic outer shells and the other types that are made of types of sturdycloths.
The headgear that has hard plastic outer shells are the classic ones thatamateur wrestlers wear. They are connected by 1-2 straps over the head and onethat goes under the chin.
If you don’t like the feel of headgear with hard plastic cover, then yourother option is cloth headgear. For some, they’re more comfortable and makeyou feel more protected. Some companies even make a headgear that covers yourwhole head and could maybe help prevent head injuries.
Wearing this piece of protective equipment will definitely keep your ears safefrom the dreaded cauliflower ear. If you want to know which brand of headgearis best, we got you covered.
Check out our complete list of the best headgear for BJJ
How To Train With An Injured Ear?
You can train with a cauliflower ear, but you have to be extremely careful. Ifyou don’t take care of your injured ear it will swell up again forcing you togo through more treatment.
There are only two ways you can train with an injured ear. You can either dotechnique training only or wear protective headgear.
- Technique Training: When you have an injured ear and stillwant to train without headgear, your only option is technique training. Youhave to cut out live rolling and stick to technical training that won’tre-damage your ear.
- Headgear: Wearing headgear is a good idea when you’redealing with some cauliflower ear or a preventative as stated earlier. Anycontact to your injured ears may lead them to swell up again. Having thatprotective material covering your ears will prevent further injury to yourdamaged ear.
How To Treat Cauliflower Ear?
There are only two ways that you can treat a case of cauliflower ear. Eitheryou can go to a medical professional for assistance or at home where you or afriend can drain it.
Personally, we feel you should see a medical professional for assistance withyour cauliflower ear problem. For this section, we’ll describe ways a medicalprofessional could handle this problem.
Ear Draining
If you go to a normal physician to treat your ear, they will most likely drainyour ear. Just like you could do at home only do a better job treating itsince they’re a medical professional.
After the Dr inspects your cauliflower ear, they’ll choose what size needle isright for the job. They’ll dab your ear with alcohol to prevent infecting andthen insert the syringe.
It may take a few drainings and bloody gauze, but they’ll be sure to get itall out. If the case of cauliflower ear is more severe, they may also use ascalpel to help drain it all. After they finish the draining process, theywill apply pressure with gauze and you’ll be ready to go.
Generally, they will tell you to stay off the mat a couple weeks. But ifyou’re not going to listen, you better have some headgear handy or it’ll swellright back up.
Plastic Surgeon
Your next option is going to a plastic surgeon’s office to treat yourcauliflower ear.
This isn’t in depth surgery, so you won’t be put under anesthesia for it. Butit is more in depth than a traditional draining that you’d do at a normaldoctor’s office or at home.
First, what they will do is most likely dull your ear with a numbing agent.This is so you feel them cutting into your ear.
For the surgery, the plastic surgeon is going to cut into your ear and open itup. They will remove all of the scar tissue that formed from the injury. Afterthe doctor is done cleaning out all of the scar tissue, they will clean thearea and stitch you up.
You’re going to be off the mat for a few weeks, but it’ll be worth it. Whenthe healing period is over and your stitches are removed, your ear will lookgood as new. There will be little to no sign that you had a cauliflower ear.
These two options are by far the best options and the top choices you shouldconsider. It may get a bit expensive, but if you have insurance it shouldn’tbe a problem.
Draining Your Own Cauliflower Ear
DISCLAIMER!!!: We at the site do not encourage you to do thismethod. If you do it wrong it can lead to infection or further disfigurementof your ear.
Materials Draining Your Ear At Home
The materials you will need for this process are:
- Syringes
- Rubbing Alcohol
- Gauze
- Tape
- Ice
- Pain Reliever Medicine
Where to Get Syringes?
DISCLAIMER AGAIN!!! This is another reason why we do not endorse draining yourcauliflower ear at home. Due to a heroin epidemic in some states, you justcan’t buy syringes over the counter. This means to get medical syringes, youhave to go through some effort to obtain them.
The easiest methods of obtaining medical syringes would be if you have friendsthat work in the medical field. Or maybe you have a diabetic friend.
A positive of having a friend in the medical field with extra syringes. If youdo have a friend in the medical field, they may offer to drain your ear foryou. Some medical workers like a nurse may enjoy doing gross tasks like thisand will definitely do a better job.
Unfortunately if you don’t have a friend in the medical field you’re going tohave to buy them. Buying them can be a pain.
Amazon usually has them [Check Amazon], but you can’t wait two days on delivery to drain your ear. The drainingprocess needs to be done within a day or the fluid will start to solidify.Your only option after that is plastic surgery.
Pharmacies do have them, but unfortunately most will not sell them to youunless you’re a diabetic with a prescription. This leaves you with twooptions. Pet stores and feed stores for farm animals.
They have syringes for sale to give pets and other animals medicine throughinjections. You could have to go through this headache if you want to drainyour own cauliflower ear.
The Process Of Draining Your Cauliflower Ear
We’ve already warned you that we don’t encourage you to drain your own ear…But if you’re going to do it here are the detailed steps of draining yourcauliflower ear.
- Numb Your Ear With Ice(Optional): This step is optional,but it may make inserting the syringe into your ear less painful. Hold apiece of ice to your swollen ear for about a minute or until numb beforeusing the syringe.
- Sterilize The Area: Take a piece of gauze and soak it withrubbing alcohol and thoroughly rub the surface of your ear. This is toprevent infection during the draining process
- Inserting The Syringe: Insert the syringe slowly at anangle into the swollen area. Be sure not to stick it in fast or you may goright through your ear. You’re trying to drain your ear not pierce yourear
- Draining Your Ear: To drain your cauliflower ear graduallypull the pump back until the syringe is full of blood/fluid. You may have torepeat this step until all of the blood/fluid is drained.
- Apply Pressure With Gauze: After your cauliflower ear isdrained apply a piece of gauze to your ear with pressure. This is to get theremaining blood and prevent the ear from swelling up again.
- Tape Down The Gauze: Take a clean piece of gauze and put iton your ear and tape it down for pressure. You need to keep pressure on yourear, so that it doesn’t balloon back up again and repeat the process.
After the process, your ear is not going to look perfect, but better it’lllook less bad. At least it won’t look totally like a giant piece ofcauliflower.
If you’re going to train after this be sure to stick to light technicaltraining or wear headgear. Definitely use headgear if you want to do fullspeed training and do so for at least a month. Otherwise, your ear is going toswell again and you’re going to have to do this all over again.
Don’ts For Draining Your Ear
There are two big no-nos you shouldn’t do when draining your ear.
- Cut Into Your Ear
- Squeeze Your Cauliflower Ear
Cutting into your ear is dangerous and probably won’t work. Even if you manageto get all of the fluid out, you will most likely further disfigure your ear.You may earn yourself a trip to the hospital for cutting into your ear.(Whichyou honestly should’ve done in the first place.)
The other big error you can make draining your ear is trying to squeeze. Acauliflower ear is a hematoma not a pimple. If you try squeezing it, you’llend up with a more swollen ugly looking ear.
Final Thoughts On Cauliflower Ear
Cauliflower ear is an annoying injury that you need to immediately treat toavoid further deformity.
If ever you end up with one remember the information here to get you back totraining BJJ quicker.
