My son was playing basketball and was hit by an elbow pretty hard on the opening of his ear. <the cartelage part> then was hit again during football with a football hitting him on the same spot. Its been 12 months we have been to several doctors and had bad experiances.last doc was emergancy room doc who stuck a numbing needle in it and try sqeezing it and it caused the infection to spread and go into his jaw and side of his face. He said he would do surgery but my son was in so much pain we got penicillin and pain meds and left.now my son is not wanting to go to the specialist I brought him to who says he needs to have surgery to remove the lump.(my son is 17) and hard headed. It is now infected again. I have surgery scheduled for This Wednesday. Can they do surgery with it infected and can it damage the nerve under the cartilage? Any help or suggestions would be helpful.

It sounds worse than a hematoma. I'll PM several medical people who are experts here.

It could be a hematoma or it could be a staph infection. Surgery at this point sounds like a good idea.