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Piercing Problems
When Fashion Trends Go Wrong By Kelly Burgess
Cauliflower ear. The phrase conjures up visions of flat-nosed ex-boxers with a stogie clamped in their teeth, not a pretty blond 15-year-old. But these days, that's who is most likely to end up with an auricular hematoma, or cauliflower ear – a condition that is on the rise because of the recent craze of piercing the cartilage at the top of the ear.
The more piercings, the more danger there is that problems will result. Auricular hematoma is precipitated by trauma to the ear and, unfortunately to an ear, trauma is trauma, whether it is from a gloved blow to the head or driving a metal post through with a piercing gun.
More than just an ugly lump, cauliflower ear can result in a life-threatening infection, as it almost did with my daughter, Wende. Fortunately, she was left with just a small scar, but some cases of upper-ear piercing result in such unsightly damage that reconstructive surgery is warranted.
"Not only did I never consider it a problem, my friend and I thought it was so cool we considered having it done ourselves," says Rose.
Then, after about a week, it began to swell. Rose wasn't concerned, because Anna had been following the directions she had been given, so she told Anna to just keep cleaning it. After a few days, it looked worse and was becoming painful. Anna took her earring out, and her mom took her to the doctor where she was put on antibiotics.
By the next day, the ear had swollen to twice its size, but Rose assumed the antibiotics were working. Coincidentally, she had an appointment to give blood at a blood drive that day, and she took Anna along. One of the RNs there noticed Anna's ear and urged Rose to take her to the emergency room immediately.
By the time Anna arrived at the emergency room, she was running a fever. The emergency room doctor took one look at her and called in an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialist who told them that Anna needed to go to Children's Hospital of St. Louis. There, the ENT drained the fluid from Anna's ear to culture the bacteria.