While wrestling in high school, Greg Harkins said he never wore protective head gear in tournaments or practices because it was too hot and too sweaty; a decision he now regrets.
Over time, Harkins developed a condition called auricular hematoma, which is more widely recognized as cauliflower ear.
Cauliflower ear is a bulbous deformity of the outer ear and is most prevalent among wrestlers, boxers and martial artists.
The condition results from injury to the external ear. When wrestlers compete, friction is created during “head to head” contact or “head to mat” contact. This friction causes a “sheer” injury to the cartilage of the ear. “Sheer” refers to the separation of the cartilage and skin, according to Dr. John Wilson, team physician for the University of Wisconsin-Madison football and wrestling team.
It’s like when football players wear helmets to prevent concussions; they can still get a concussion, there’s just less risk.
Dr. John Wilson
The term cauliflower ear comes from the appearance of the ear once the injury has progressed, often due to repeated blows to the ear from contact with a competitor’s head or the mat. As the condition worsens the cartilage begins to die.
The ear can “shrivel up and fold in on itself” and lighten in color, which creates an appearance similar to cauliflower, according to a report released by Medicine Net.
With traces of cauliflower ear still visible on one of his ears, Dr. Douglas Wyland, an orthopedic surgeon with Steadman Hawkins Clinic of the Carolinas in Spartanburg, S.C., said he didn’t wear his head gear in practice when he wrestled competitively in college.
