# Ear growths on black men **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2004, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ear-growths-on-black-men/260638 "2004-08-20T02:02:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ear-growths-on-black-men/260638/1 "2004-08-20T02:02:24Z")
I do not mean to be racist by singling out black men but I have never seen it on any other group of men. What I am speaking of looks as if it is almost a gout or something, it is a distended growth off of one of the ears and can sometimes be disturbingly large. Anyone know what I’m talking about and know more about it? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ear-growths-on-black-men/260638/2 "2004-08-20T02:11:32Z")
**Keloids**. They’re more common in many ethnic groups with their roots in Africa, but also occur not infrequently in other groups such as native americans and caucasians. They often appear on ears because they are basically an over-reaction of scar tissue. And when ears get pierced, scar tissue may form. I’ve removed a dozen or so of them from ears when they get all dangly and half torn off. More involved ones may respond to steroid injections or other treatments. But caution must be used. Sometimes removing it just makes for a larger keloid scar forming after. QtM, MD ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ear-growths-on-black-men/260638/3 "2004-08-20T02:15:57Z")
[Keloids](http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/9339/10218.html) and heres a [picture](http://www.medscape.com/content/2003/00/45/09/450979/art-md450979.fig1.jpg) or [two](http://www.aboutcancer.com/large_keloid.jpg) (sorta gross, but not too bad) ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ear-growths-on-black-men/260638/4 "2004-08-20T03:16:52Z")
I sometimes get a little spheroid bump inside my earlobe that goes away on its own after a while. One time, I popped it, for lack of a better word, and it wound up hurting like hell, scabbing over, and generally being really nasty (it oozed a bit sometimes… of course, it didn’t help that I wouldn’t stop picking at it). Was that a keloid? ---
**Author:** ![clold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eb9ed0/32.png) [@clold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clold)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ear-growths-on-black-men/260638/5 "2004-08-20T03:29:36Z")
Those sound like the pimples I’ve gotten on my earlobes, maybe four or five times in my lifetime. They felt more solid than most pimples, and hurt for much longer after popping them. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ear-growths-on-black-men/260638/6 "2004-08-20T03:47:02Z")
I had those in my teens; my mom called them calcium deposits. ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2004, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ear-growths-on-black-men/260638/7 "2004-08-20T04:18:02Z")
Thanks, I figured it was something like that but I wasn’t sure! Gotta love SDMB!