Recurrent auricular chondritis and cartilage repair

An inflammatory cell infiltrate obscures the chondrodermal interface and partially replaces the auricular cartilage: the findings are associated with RP (haematoxylin-eosin, x400). Besides the dropped pinna, no systemic manifestations were found on physical examination and the patient's neurological status was unremarkable, including normal pain perception. [...]if the damage extends beyond the subchondral bone, a repair process ensues in which mesenchymal progenitor cells migrate into the injured site and undergo chondrogenic differentiation. 9 Highly vascularised auricular skin and perichondral tissue may provide the cartilage with such progenitor cells and growth factors. 10 Painless inflammation of cartilage tissue in the patient with normal pain perception may indicate early destruction of receptors.