Did Vincent van goh chop off his ear?

it was only thought that he cut of a small bit of his ear lobe, others say it was a big part because he wore a huge bandage over it. He suffered from a mental illness caled syphillis so he was a bit crazy. its also been rumored that he had an ear infection that was realy swore.. he sent it to a prostitute called rachel that who worked in brothel, he sealed it up in an envelope wit the Words:

'guard this object carefully' because he was head over heals for her.