From now on, Dr Merck will no longer operate in Germany. Dr Zidan is his successor and he was fully trained by Dr Merck in his stitch method.
Advantages of the Stitch Method of Dr. Merck over Traditional methods
Based on the evaluation of 5528 ears operated on between 1996 – 2008
|
Stitch method |
Traditional methods |
|
Ideal result by always creating a round, edge-free antihelix |
Often edges and deformations along the antihelix |
|
Patient can control and decide on the new position during the operation with hand mirror |
No deciding possible |
|
Ears can be corrected the same on both sides |
Ears often can't be corrected the same on both sides |
|
Patient sees the result already at the end of the operation |
Patient sees result only at first change of bandage |
|
No headbands |
Always headbands, sometimes for 2 weeks or longer |
|
No cuts or removal of skin; only tiny stitch-points on both sides of the ear |
Large cuts of the skin, often oval excisions of skin on the back of the ear |
|
The cartilage is not exposed, cut, scored, thinned out or worked in any way |
Thinning, scratching or other working of the cartilage |
|
No visible scars |
Scars unavoidable |
|
Miminal loss of blood during operation |
Larger loss of blood during operation |
|
No bleeding after operation |
Sometimes post-operative bleeding of differing extent |
|
Post-operative infection risk at thread penetration of skin only 2.8 % |
Post-operative infection risk at thread penetration of skin up to 9. 9 % |
|
Only 4 cases of a genuine allergy to the thread material up till now |
Thread fistula and granuloma up to 9.9 % because of use of other thread material |
|
Pain after operation seldom longer than 1 to 3 days |
Pain up to a week or longer |
|
Only one day of post-operative infection protection with antibiotics |
Protection of infection with antibiotics for mostly 1 to 2 weeks |
|
Minimal traumatisations of the ears |
Heavy traumatisations of the ears |
|
Low degree swellings for about 5 to 7 days |
Often heavy swellings up to two weeks or longer |
|
No shaving of hair around the ear |
Often shaving of the hair around the ear |
|
Outpatient treatment |
Often inpatient treatment, sometimes for up to two weeks |
|
No post-operative check-up |
Often several post-operative check-ups and treatments necessary |
|
No or only short-term sick leave from school or work |
Always sick leave of varying lengths of time |
|
Low relapse quota of 4.9 % |
Clearly higher relapse quota of up to 58 % |
|
Thread rejection quota of 5.8 % |
Thread rejection quota up to 9.9 % |
|
Serious complications are not possible |
Serious irreversible deformations extending to a cauliflower ear are possible |
|
Wide acceptance by patients (The oldest male patient so far was 86) |
Low acceptance by patients |