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Cauliflower Ear as a 1stripe Bluebelt

Gdash

Gdash

Yellow Belt
@Yellow
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I know, it's sad. I have black belt ear and white belt skill. What the fukc man?!? I already had people at work ask how long I wrestled and one guy said he'd have to shoot me if we ever fought because I look I know shit. I look like I've been training since a toddler when it's really only been a yr and 5months 3 times a week. Maybe I just have a genetic predisposition for cauliflower ear. I've had an otolaryngologists drain it then say leave it alone, then an urgent care doc drained it and said keep pressure on it for 5 days. And now I've drained it 3 times and nothing works. It's painful as shit. In all honesty I don't really care about the look I just feel embarrassed I don't have the skill to back it up.

Anyone's else get the cauli-ear early on?
 
There's a black belt at my academy who my instructor says got cauliflower almost instantly back when he was a white belt. I think it depends on genetics whether your ears are susceptible or tough and resist it.

I got a little cauliflower ear about 4 years into training.
 
I really believe that constantly draining it is what makes it look so gnarly.

I can only speak to it anecdotally, but I have cauli that is barely noticeable now, though when it was swollen (for the few weeks it takes to harden up and shrink back down) it was readily noticeable to where people commented on it.
My instructor has cauli that he never drained, and his ears look relatively normal.
I know a couple of guys that have drained their ears (which they end up doing multiple times due to re-injuring it while it heals) and the end result is never a normal looking ear.
Undrained and healed winds up harder and thicker, but proportional and pretty close to normal by sight, in my experience.

I think that when it swells, if you just let nature take its course it will harden and reduce back down to a fairly normal looking shape. Once you let that happen, it doesn't seem to ever swell in that area again. It hasn't for me at least, and I still use my head like a brick of sandpaper when passing.

IANAD, but you if drain the haematoma and attempt to heal the area back to normal through time alone or by binding the split layers back together, no matter what I should think that area is now fairly compromised structurally. Another hit or injury to that same area must have an increased chance of developing another haematoma.
Whereas when you let the haematoma harden, the body has done its own natural healing and is now stronger for it.

Draining cauli to me seems like cutting off a callus. Why would you, when your body has adapted or is adapting to an external stimulus that is likely to happen again?
 
Gdash said:
I already had people at work ask how long I wrestled and one guy said he'd have to shoot me if we ever fought because I look I know shit.
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hey it could've been worse... you could've been accused of training teh deadly karate martial arts and that the guy is a praying mantis black belt and would like to "spar" some time..


seriously though, its your ears, unfortunately. I've been training since 2006 and never had cauliflower, even been kneed in the ear full force. Headgear is a pain in the ass and won't help you much - you'll be easier to catch/more difficult to get out of submissions, plus it will constantly keep falling off or slide off. Draining could help initially, but you might as well get used to cauliflower if you want to continue training.
 
i left my headgear off for a single 2 minute round once in HS wrestling and that was good enough for me to decide it's better to wear headgear than not. that and i saw someone going through the shit you're going through. i don't know why anyone would want cauliflower ear.
 
czar2 said:
hey it could've been worse... you could've been accused of training teh deadly karate martial arts and that the guy is a praying mantis black belt and would like to "spar" some time..


seriously though, its your ears, unfortunately. I've been training since 2006 and never had cauliflower, even been kneed in the ear full force. Headgear is a pain in the ass and won't help you much - you'll be easier to catch/more difficult to get out of submissions, plus it will constantly keep falling off or slide off. Draining could help initially, but you might as well get used to cauliflower if you want to continue training.
Click to expand...

i hate to go off topic, but i was scrolling down and saw "czar2" and a purple belt and wondered if some cheeky mod changed my name for a second there.

glad we can agree on different transliterations, though. no hard feelings, right?
 
I started to get cauli as a whitebelt after a few months. I was working part time and doing BJJ a couple hours a day at that point. Once I dialed it back to have some rest days, my cauli stopped appearing. One ear is harder than the other, though.
 
I had probably .5 millilters drained some time last year from my 'good' ear, well I didn't wear headgear afterwards and my 'good' ear exploded again from a triangle, I drained upwards of 4+ milliliters of 'stuff' out of my ear.

wear your fucking headgear after getting drains! don't be like me!
 
I had a buddy who started to get it after a month of training, some people are just really susceptible.
 
Just draining it doesn't work for me. I started getting it after about a year. For me, the solution is to drain it and and stitch through the ear with cotton bolsters (the kind the dentists sticks in your mouth) on either side to apply pressure.

I now where head gear (matman) it took a few days to get used to but now I don't really notice and sort of prefer to wear it.
 
My experience with my own ear, and people that I know, has revealed one thing. Doctors generally have no idea how to deal with this, and there is little consensus on treatment.

Some people have drained it and had it work, others try to drain and it becomes just lumpy.
 
I say fuck it. Most people dont notice and I got cauli within my first year of training bjj. Lots of grinding on top and a LOT of fucking triangle escapes. When the pants of the gi rips off your ear in an explosive triangle escape thats what happens. My triangle escapes are a lot different now but when I was first learning that was how I dealt with triangles
 
Look at the bright side, at least you have a Blue Belt to go with your ear. Like other's have mentioned, Whites with a couple of months in get it too.
 
Alex88 said:
Keep it. Girls love it :D
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Lol. I don't know what girls you know but I know girls who don't love it.

As to the TS buy some earmuffs. I wear them especially when my ears are painful.
 
Tsar said:
i hate to go off topic, but i was scrolling down and saw "czar2" and a purple belt and wondered if some cheeky mod changed my name for a second there.

glad we can agree on different transliterations, though. no hard feelings, right?
Click to expand...

hehe

yea
 
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