What is cauliflower ear? How can you prevent it.

Hey folks, so I wanted to do a post on this because I have noticed almost 95% of all grapplers (granted they have been doing it long enough) have cauliflower ear or Hematoma Auris. So what the hell is cauliflower ear? Everyone knows your ear is made up of cartilage and skin, but many of us don't know that surrounding our cartilage is dense tissue called the perichondrium which provides nutrients to the cartilage. When you suffer a blow or any sort of trauma (extensive rubbing) to the cartilage, the perichondrium separates from the cartilage. Once this happens blood and other types of delicious fluids rush in between and the body's defense mechanism kicks in and starts to clot the blood. At the same time your cartilage is dying. If immediate action is not taken the cartilage will die, the blood will clot, and your ear will be permanently disfigured. Sounds yummy! So I bet you're wondering how do you treat it. Well one way is not letting it happen in the first place by wearing headgear, but then you just look like a pansy...so the other way is to drain it. I'm not a doctor and I don't recommend draining it yourself, so I won't even bother tell you. What you should do is consult an ear doctor or a plastic surgeon immediately to have the ear taken care of. Now I bet you're wondering...how bad does all of this hurt? Well my research has led me to believe that on a scale from 1-10, 10 being the worse pain you ever felt in your life, cauliflower ear is a 9. If you don't want it, wear headgear...if you wanna look cool (it's considered a badge of honor) then go without the headgear and hope you get it. Everyone doesn't get, so if you don't be thankful. Ciao!