Otoplasty Alternative - Stitch Method?

Hello David,

I have been performing incisionless otoplasties for six years now and, even though not all patients are candidates for this procedure, it is a long lasting and excellent technique. I find that most people are candidates for this operation with less than 20% requiring some cartilage excision or other modifications. The technique is the same as the Mustarde sutures that my colleague mentions, but the difference is that the stitches are placed through the skin and buried under the skin. If you find an experienced surgeon with this technique you should consider it if you are deemed suitable for it. Best of luck.

Dr. A. Gantous

This method, which is the first truly minimally invasive method for pinning protruding ears, was named “Stitch Method” because the only fixing elements holding the ears in their new position are the stitches that must always be non-absorbable (permanent). Scars, that result from the traditional methods and which together with the stitches maintain the new position of the ears, do not occur with my “Stitch Method” and are unnecessary, as shown by my long-term results over a period of 18 years that are based on over 8000 successfully operated ears. My long-term results show that the widely held opinion in the literature that the ears must be held in their new position by scars is false, if non-absorbable stitches are used.It has been asserted in the postings in this forum that the stitch method cannot pin all ears. That is not correct. Whoever writes that is not familiar with the method, or is not using it correctly, or is using another method. With the stitch method, all ears, regardless how thick or hard the cartilage is, can be successfully pinned and in ears with a big deep cavum conchae, also. Unfortunately, many colleagues often lump the stitch method together with the “Incisionless Otoplasty” by Fritsch, although there are many differences between Dr Fritsch’s “Incisionless Otoplasty” and the Stitch method. The Fritsch method is significantly more invasive than the Stitch method, especially as Fritsch scores the cartilage. Scoring is, however, an unnecessary step backwards towards the traditional methods and is associated with numerous risks, as reported in the literature. These risks no longer occur at all with the stitch method, as the entire cartilage is not worked on, nor is it scored.  Kind regards from Priv.Doz.Dr.med.W.Merck, Konstanz, Germany