Not all that is grayish is Cholesterol!

Do you know that cholesteatoma was first described by Cruveilhier in 1829, but first named by Müller in 1828?

And that its discovery has lead to myriads of ear surgery techniques ranging from 'Canal wall down' mastoidectomy (early half of 20th century), through the 'Combined approach, intact canal wall' tympanomastoidectomies (William & Howard House, 1950s-60s), to 'Canal wall through' technique, and finally to individualized treatment approach?

The interesting aspect is that the term cholesteatoma (used for grayish lesion within the middle ear (and/or the external ear) with expansile tendencies) was based on previous misconception that it contained cholesterol in its substance. This is currently found to be untrue, but then we are stuck with the term Cholesteatoma