Pic: This sucks; England rugby international uses leeches to drain his cauliflower ears

We're no doctors but this can't be a good idea

According to the good people at WebMD, cauliflower ears are 'hematomas, or small collections of blood that clot and block the flow of blood and nutrients' and the only way to treat it is by getting a doctor to release some of the built-up blood. Nowhere on WebMD does it mention leeches as a treatment but that hasn't deterred Bath and England player Dave Attwood from using the blood sucking little feckers to treat his bulbous lugholes.

Anyone ever cured a cauliflower ear with leeches? @bathrugby @davidflatman pic.twitter.com/f8pg8OkFW0 — Dave Attwood (@Dmjattwood) December 8, 2014

According to the Mail, Attwood heard about it from some physios, found a place that sells leeches and ordered a few to try it. ‘I did some research on Google, as you do, and found a company up in Carmarthenshire. Leeches suck the blood out. They don’t suck masses out but they do inject an anticoagulant into the ear that should help break down some of the blood clots and reduce swelling. It’s a bit of a lost cause at the moment so I haven’t really got much to lose. ‘The classic method is syringing where you just stick a needle in and suck out a load of blood. Once the skin tears away from the cartilage, that pocket fills up with blood and it can’t escape anywhere, then it hardens.' Rather you than us Dave.