Protruding ear clinic - PIC Konstanz - Dr. Merck - stomach reduction, wrinkle treatment, breast lifting, nose correction, ear fastening

Frequently-asked questions

Can I play sports after the procedure?
After the procedure, you may play any kind of sport with the exception of wrestling. In wrestling, opponents grab and hold on to each other’s ears repeatedly and very roughly, which may cause damage (this, however, equally applies to non-operated ears). Swimming and diving are OK as soon as the small stitch points have healed.

After the procedure can I shower / wash my hair and take a sauna bath?
After the procedure, you may bathe/shower from the neck down. You may wash your hair again 2 days after the procedure. It doesn’t matter if the ears get a little wet or if you get shampoo on them as the stitch points will already have encrusted and dried up just a few hours after the procedure. Small crusts of blood that form immediately after the procedure should be left as a natural protective layer. These may then be softened with water and wiped off with a clean cloth 1 week after the procedure. If the blood crusts bother you, they can be removed several days earlier.
You may take a sauna bath or visit the solarium 3-4 weeks after the procedure.

Will my ears be swollen after the procedure and how long will the swelling last?
It cannot be avoided that the corrected ears will slightly swell after the procedure. The swelling is, however, not nearly as great as with the traditional methods. The swelling normally lasts for 3 days; on the 4th day it is significantly reduced and within 1 week after the operation, the swelling is normally gone. Only in exceptional cases does it remain after this time.

Will I have a head bandage or plaster/band-aid?
After the procedure, the patient returns home without a head bandage or plaster/band-aid. Only small children will need to wear a bandage for one day because it has been observed that children like to tug on their ears - with hands that are not always so clean.

How long and why must I wear a headband?
We recommend that you wear a headband only at night for 4 weeks after the procedure. This headband should not be too tight. The headband does not actually hold the ear since the ear is held sufficiently in its new position by the stitch beneath the skin. The headband is intended only to protect against the possibility that the ear could be pressed into the pillow and away from the head for hours at a time. If you are certain that you do not fold your ear outwards when you sleep, then you do not need to wear the headband.

Does the stitch have to be removed?
No. The non-visible, biocompatible Goretex thread remains in the ear permanently. Additional, superficial stitches from the procedure on the fold of the back side of the ear do not need to be taken out. They are dissolvable and self-removing.

How will I know if I cannot tolerate the thread (if I have a ‘thread incompatibility’)?
In the case of intolerance, or thread incompatibility, the thread would move to the surface of the skin and become exposed; it is then possible that the ear becomes infected. The thread used for the procedure is an exceptionally biocompatible material also used by vascular surgeons to tie blood vessels. Depending on the location of the vessel, one would not ever open the abdominal- or chest cavity to remove the stitches. For the same reason, these stitches may also remain in the ear forever. Should it however come to the rare case of a thread incompatibility, the patient would need to return to our clinic to have the exposed stitch removed and, if necessary, a new stitch, possibly of another material, inserted in replacement and in a spot where the skin is thicker. If an exposed thread is not quickly removed, the ear may become infected.
Removal of the thread is not required, however, if small bumps form behind the ear which are covered with skin and do not cause the patient any pain or discomfort.

Do I need to return for a check-up after the procedure?
No, because there is no need for follow-up treatment.

Will the stitch be necessary forever to hold the ears?
The stitch is not necessary forever to hold the ears because the cartilage will eventually reshape itself. The example of nuns demonstrates this. Nuns who have worn their habits long enough have ears that lie completely flat against their heads. This proves that ear cartilage reshapes itself - if you force the ears back long enough, they assume a new position. You can put it this way: what the habit does for nuns, the biocompatible stitches do for our patients. The only advantage of the “Merck stitch method” (besides not needing to wear a habit) is that the ears are not flattened completely against the head, but brought into a natural position.

Can the thread break?
No, the thread is unbreakable.

How can you achieve a position of the ears that is the same on both sides?
Actually measuring the distance between each ear and the head does not give a good indication of symmetry. Here a visual assessment is much better and more accurate. Anyone who has hung pictures on wall, relying solely on the actual measured distances to the wall, will know this. Measuring the distances to the head is also unreliable as ears are often anatomically uneven, sometimes of different sizes or forms. For example, one ear that is 1-2 mm thicker than the other must be more closely pinned so that it will appear symmetrical to the other ear. Another example: if the so-called “Darwinian bump” on the outside of the auricle is larger on one side than on the other, the ear must also be pinned slightly closer to the head.

May I put a motorcycle helmet on after the procedure?
Yes. Of course when you put the helmet on, you should ensure that your ear is not bent forward.

Do I need to make sure that my ear is not moved after the procedure?
Even immediately after the procedure, you can do everything with the ear that you would normally do with an ear that has not been operated. Some examples: you can sleep on the ear that has been operated on; this even assists the stitch. A hairdresser may wash your hair and the operated ear, as usual and make otherwise normal movements required to cut your hair. You can, if you wish, bend your ear forwards immediately after the procedure. You’ll see that it retracts right back into its new position again. The threads used in the procedure tolerate all of this without any problems.

Will I be in pain after the procedure?
There are some patients, including children, whose pain is so slight that they need no pain medication. If you experience pain from the stitch points, we will prescribe sufficient pain medication and provide instructions on how to treat the pain.

Does the injection of a local anaesthetic into the ears hurt?
No, because we use Emla cream, a topical anaesthetic, to numb the stitch insertion spot before the procedure takes place. Thus, it is possible to operate on children older than 12 under local anaesthetic without an anaesthesiologist.