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That does sound weird considering how many athletes develop issues later in life due to build up of cartilage. My friend, 66, for example did boxing in his late 20's and started getting issues in his 50's due to nasal-blockages, to the point where he now needs to drill away some of the cartilage to get rid of migraines and such..

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True hyaline cartilage cannot "build up." The good stuff (intra articular) is a precious resource that you can only lose, not gain.

The cartilage in your nose and ear are different, and besides, the stuff that's blocking your boxer friend's nose, and causing cauliflower ear is not really cartilage. It's fibrous growth which has a blood supply. It's your body trying to replace real cartilage with a poor substitute.

Exactly, not all cartilage is the same. The good stuff doesn't come back unfortunately.

Cauliflower ears in rugby players would be another example.

Cauliflower ears are caused by the ear cartilage dying off and being replaced by fibrous scar tissue. That's definitely not cartilage overgrowth.

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