How To Treat Cauliflower Ear Video

Cauliflower ear develops from repeated blows to the outside of the ear. Learn more about how to treat cauliflower ear in this health video.

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Apply ice after an injury
Do not ice too much
Consult a doctor
Use Vaseline to reduce friction in sports

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Mike Vera is an athletic trainer the Roger Clemens Institute at Memorial Hermann Hospital. The Clemens Institute is the largest, most comprehensive medically based sports program in the Southwest.

MIKE VERA: We want to talk about cauliflower ear, a strange name, a pretty serious injury. It's caused by repeated blows to the outside of the ear. The ear is made of mainly of cartilage, but it can create some problems. It is called cauliflower ear because when the injury progresses that's exactly what it looks like. It looks like the outside of a cauliflower. One thing you can do is--the management of this particular injury is ice immediately. Any time you hit it--usually in high school wrestlers, their ear guards come off and they bang it repeatedly, you can get blood in there. It's called hematoma and it can be severe enough. But the initial treatment is simply ice. You want to put ice on the injured ear for about 20 minutes every hour. You don't have to have something fancy like this. A bag of frozen peas works just as well. Be careful about over-icing the ear. You do not want to create another injury on top of that. If it is severe enough where it swells, sometimes the physician will actually have to lance it and get some of that old blood out of there. It sounds horrible, but it is a good way to help treat that. Remember, if you are in a sport, you can always use Vaseline to help reduce the friction on there, but ice is great. And be aware of your injury.

How to Treat Cauliflower Ear Video

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