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[Guest]

With the traditional method there is cartilage removed in most of the cases; the ear should not be able to protrude again, right?

I've often read that after an operation with the old method where cartilage was removed, the ear protruded again, even after several operations. How can that be???

With your method, where you only work with stitches, the ears never protrude again?

One would think that with yours, of all methods, the possiblity of the ear protruding again would be greater than with a method where cartilage was removed.

This is really unbelievable and in any case it's great!!

Do you only use a thread? Do you stitch around the cartilage or do you stitch into the cartilage or how do I have to imagine this?

[Dr. Merck]

Dear Guest,

That's correct, with the old method the cartilage is worked in different ways and sometimes parts of it are even removed. This is done because, as you said, the ears often protrude again after these methods. By thinning the cartilage, the surgeon wants to prevent the ear from protruding again. With the weakening of the cartilage, one wants to minimise the bending resistance of the cartilage. The creation of large wounds is also done so that they will form adhesions and grow together, to additionally counteract a protrusion of the ears again. With my stitch method, the only stabilising and holding element is the invisible thread under the skin. Nevertheless, the ears protrude again less often with the Dr. Merck stitch method than with the traditional methods. This was found after an evaluation of over 5,000 operations with the stitch method. The explanation for this is the prolene thread I use, which can't be torn and is non-soluble. It constructs new tension lines in the cartilage that do not hurt and that lead to a reshaping of the cartilage over the years. You can see that this is the case with nuns who have worn their headpieces so long that the cartilage has reshaped itself over the years, to the extent that their ears then lie very close to their heads.

I do not use a single continuous thread, but several of about 1,5 cm long that lie separated from one another. This is the only way to ensure that the ear can be positioned individually and according to the patient's wish. The thread lies invisibly under the skin and is positioned around the cartilage of the new anthelix fold. This is possible due to a special stitching technique and doesn't involve any cutting of the skin.


Best regards

Priv.Doz.Dr.med.W.Merck