Dr. Klaus Schaarschmidt

As a 45 year old patient with severe PE I looked for the most experienced surgeon to help me. The two bars were implanted in Sept 2016 and removed in April 2019. The goal was no cosmetic. It was to improve my quality of life. It did. Massively. It solved my orthostatic intolerance. Even though it was a bumpy process due to pain, which was expected, I always felt I was in good hands. Prof Schaarschmidt's team is very dedicated and kind. Surgery is always stressful especially in an unknown environment like a foreign country, but I found it manageable. I do not regret my choice, quite the opposite. Prof Schaarschmidt was the right person for me. Over the years I had lost confidence in the medical profession, but when I first talked to Prof Schaarschmidt I felt I could trust him.
If you are an unusual case (due to age or severity) I would recommend asking Prof Schaarschmidt's opinion. Even if you consider another surgeon his opinion could be very useful. Don't forget you have only one shot with this kind of surgery as redos are so difficult or even impossible. So make sure you make the right choice.

I had surgery 4.5 weeks ago at age 38. You can tell from my age I‘ve come a long way: after developing p.e. at age 13 I initially wanted to get surgery at age 17 but was of course discouraged by the Ravitch procedure that I was offered. Since I didn‘t have any issues (I remained physically active and even studied sports science with a daily exercise routine of about 4-8 hours in my 20s) I decided against surgery. Time went by and even though I had never been at peace with the way I looked I stopped thinking about my chest that much.
At age 33/34 I remember clearly I had my first moment of dizziness during workout while doing some reverse butterflies – I guess because of the pressure that particular exercise puts on the chest. My exercise tolerance started declining, sometimes I would be feeling pretty much okay, sometimes I had to stop after 10 minutes. When jogging I would feel strong fatigue after finishing and quite often feel dizziness during the days I had gone running before. Of course, these experiences also left a mental mark, especially when knowing the heart visually beats against the sternum and is somewhat restricted in its activity. My self-confidence decreased and I went through a period of 1-2 years where I wouldn‘t really do any sports. At age 36 I started again and took things a little more easy. That pretty much worked, but I was nowhere near the point I had been a couple years ago. Also, riding a bike turned out to stress my body most, with my heart beating the crap out of me during the first 500 meters and fits of dizziness whenever I stopped (e.g. at traffic lights).
I finally decided to do something about my state of health, went to see Prof. Schaarschmidt and agreed on the surgery to be executed a couple of months later (due to work schedule). I thought it was really helpful to have somebody encourage me to undergo the procedure, especially because I was promised the operation would still be okay at my age while I was already entering an age range that would make things much more difficult in the future.
About the actual procedure: I received one bar on a Wednesday morning. Yes, by now you probably know the first days are an adventure of its own. After surgery, the drugs didn‘t really do what they were suppossed to and I felt nauseous and rather weak all the time. The peridural didn‘t do anything for me (apart from numbing my legs all the way down to the ankle) so all I could do was wait, do my breathing exercises and start walking. I was able to get up on day 1 after the operation, on day 2 I managed to walk approximately 200m. I did my breathing exercises almost every hour (as recommended by Prof. Schaarschmidt and the staff) and quickly made progress. Look at your recovery as a marathon you really want to win – it‘ll help you summon the energy it takes to make your body follow your will again.
By day 6 I could already walk around quite normally and took walks outside of about 45 minutes (afterwards I crashed my bed for 10-15 minutes). On day 8 I was allowed to go back home (I felt really good and - apart from receiving some painkillers from time to time - there wasn‘t really any use in staying). Of course that was only possible because I live in the proximity of the hospital. On day 12 I returned to have my stitches removed.
By day 9 I rode my bicycle again, I think around day 14 I went jogging for the first time. By day 15 I started going to the gym to do some workout on ergometers (e.g. the rowing machine) and, I can assure you, each time I went I made progress – same will happen to you!
Today, 4.5 weeks after surgery, I still wake up once or twice during the night. This is not due to pain but rather to feeling uncomfortable - the pressure on the chest grows throughout the night. However, I barely feel the bar anymore. I stopped taking the minor doses of ibuprofen I was still on (2x200mg/ day) about 1.5 weeks ago. It‘s great!
What did the surgery do for me? Apart from the obvious bliss of looking normal I have no problems with dizziness anymore and I just feel more energetic. Yesterday I had an extended bike trip of about 2 hours at a fairly high speed and felt like I could be going longer.
Prof. Schaarschmidt did an awesome job, for which I would like to cordially thank him! His experience and precision during the procedure most certainly allowed my quick recovery. All nurses also were a great help in getting to feel better and were also quite experienced with the Nuss. I never felt like my questions were left unanswered.
It was a life-changing decision and if you feel like your p.e. is giving you a hard time I would like to encourage you to think about getting the help that is available to you.

I had surgery exactly 4 weeks ago at age 38. You can tell from my age I‘ve come a long way: after develoging p.e. at age 13 I initially wanted to get surgery at age 17 but was of course discouraged by the Ravitch procedure that I was offered. Since I didn‘t have any issues (I remained physically active and even studied sports science with a daily exercise routine of about 6-8 hours in my 20s) I decided against surgery. Time went by and even though I had never been at peace with the way I looked I stopped thinking about my chest that much.
At age 33/34 I remember clearly I had my first moment of dizziness during workout while doing some reverse butterflies – I guess because of the pressure that particular exercise puts on the chest. My exercise tolerance started declining, sometimes I would be feeling pretty much okay, sometimes I had to stop after 10 minutes. When jogging I would feel strong fatigue after stopping and quite often feel dizziness during the days I had gone running before. Of course, these experiences also leave a mental mark, especially when knowing the heart visually beats against the sternum. My self-confidence decreased and I went through a period of 1-2 years where I wouldn‘t really do any sports. At age 36 I started again and took things a little more easy. That pretty much worked, but I was nowhere near the point I had been a couple years ago. Also, riding a bike turned out to stress my body most, with my heart beating the crap out of me during the first 500 meters and fits of dizziness whenever I stopped.
I finally decided to do something about my state of health, went to see Prof. Schaarschmidt and agreed on the surgery to be executed a couple of months later (due to work schedule). I thought it was really helpful to have somebody encourage me to undergo the procedure, especially because I was promised the operation would still be okay at my age while I was already entering an age range that would make things much more difficult in the future.
About the actual procedure: I received one bar on a Wednesday morning. Yes, by now you probably know the first days are an adventure of its own. After surgery, the drugs didn‘t really do what they were suppossed to and I felt nauseous and rather weak all the time. The peridural didn‘t do anything for me (apart from numbing my legs all the way down to the ankle) so all I could do was wait, do my breathing exercises and start walking. I was able to get up on day 1 after the operation, on day 2 I managed to walk approximately 200m. I did my breathing exercises almost every hour (as recommended by Prof. Schaarschmidt and the staff) and I quickly made progress. Look at your recovery as a marathon you really want to win – it‘ll help you to summon the energy it takes to make your body follow your will again.
By day 6 I could already walk around quite normally and took walks outside of about 45 minutes (afterwards I crashed my bed for 10-15 minutes). On day 8 I was allowed to go back home (I felt really good and - apart from receiving some painkillers from time to time - there wasn‘t really any use in staying). Of course that was only possible because I live in the proximity of the hospital. On day 12 I returned to have my stitches removed.
By day 9 I rode my bicycle again, I think around day 14 I went jogging for the first time. By day 15 I started going to the gym to spend some time on ergometers (e.g. the rowing machine) and, I can assure you, each time I went I made progress – same will happen to you!
Today, 4 weeks after surgery, I still wake up once or twice during the night. This is not due to pain but rather to feeling uncomfortable - the pressure on the chest grows throughout the night. However, I barely feel the bar anymore. I stopped taking the minor doses of ibuprofen I was still on (2x200mg/ day) 4 days ago. It‘s great!
What did the surgery do for me? Apart from the obvious bliss of looking normal (Prof. Schaarschmidt did an awesome job) I have no problems with dizziness anymore and I just feel more energetic. Yesterday I had an extended bike trip of about 2 hours at a fairly high speed and felt like I could be going longer.
Prof. Schaarschmidt did an awesome job, for which I would like to cordially thank him! His experience and precision during the procedure most certainly allowed my quick recovery. All nurses also were a great help in getting to feel better and were also quite experienced with the Nuss. I never felt like my questions were left unanswered.

In my opinion Prof. Dr. Klaus Schaarschmidt is an incredible surgeon and a GREAT person, funny, yet professional and he always seem to be in the hospital, his team were also great.

My result score of 9 is not a reflection of the professor but of the results of the first surgery that I am hoping I can push back over the coming year and get an even better result...... I so wish I had seen the Professor first, at least I can pass my experience on via this site so you don't make the same mistake.

My Nuss operation was a do over, the professor removed someone elses short bars..... The bars had been in for almost 3 years, this surgery should not have been done, my result for my surgery now is not as good as it could have been if I had come to Germany and seen the professor first I am sure of this. After my 3 years with bars in from my first surgery I was getting pain in the section the bars attached to my chest. The bars were too short to remove a dent as wide as mine, if you are attaching bars inside a dent then you are never going to get that dent out...... These short bars were explained to me after I had showered and was awaiting the surgeon to go into theater. I paid extra money to have a specailist involved in the surgery in a very expensive part of London 2 nuss surgeons, so I had to go private to have this happen, zero insurance could be used............ I should have come to Germany FIRST.

Do yourself a Favour come here first!!! Don't go else where as I did and then end up here trying to have the Professor fix someone elses mistakes, ESP if you are older. Give yourself the best chance for a great result. Looking at the various forums see where everyone ends up to have thier incorrect Nuss surgeries sorted out, there is a reason, Prof. Schaarschmidt record speak for itself.

The professor was so nice to me and my mother who came with me, the hospital is great, super clean, great friendly staff, lovely grounds too.

my haller index value is wrong I don't know what it was so please ignore that info if looking thanks

My original Nuss was performed at the Mayo Clinic by Dr. J, fantastic results with the chest. I also give her and the Mayo Clinic 10/10. However Dr J was unable to correct the rib flare during the Nuss as well as during bar removal. I tried several braces to remedy the situation unsuccessfully like most people. I decided to email Dr. Schaarschmidt and pick his brain and responded very promptly with a detailed explanation of his planned procedure as well as cost and expected hospital stay. For anyone who is having difficulty getting your insurance to cover one of the fine American ones like Dr j, I highly recommend looking into Dr Schaar in Germany because the operation is about 1/10 of the cost that it would be in America...anyway on to the procedure!

Overall dr schaarschmidt is a very skilled and experienced surgeon for all pectus related procedures and he is clearly very passionate about what he does. He is very easy to reach via email. From what Dr Schaarschmidt described it sounds like he removed segments of defective cartilage and sutured the ends where the segments were removed together, closing the gap that was created. I am still currently recovering and am very swollen so I can't really speak for the cosmetic appearance quite yet, but it looks promising. Pain is not nearly comparable to the nuss, never required iv narcotics and after about 3 days I didn't need pain killers at all. Should be able to fly home once the last drainage tube is removed with no problems. My advice would be just to get the ribs and chest fixed at the same time and save yourself a 2nd procedure if possible, the nuss is already very painful, can't imagine the rib correction makes it significantly worse.

As for the hospital it's a bit outdated compared to the state of art mayo clinic. But they have everything you need here. Some of the nurses and hospital workers don't speak much English, which i expected. They are also not quite as agressive with pain medicine here in Germany, however I'm not so sure you need it. the TV is all in German, so I was pretty bored but that's really my only minor complaint. But They are very nice and hospitable and they will let you stay a bit longer if you ask. Dr Schaar frequently checks on you as well.

Overall I give my experience an A+ and if I remember I'll be back with updates as far as the cosmetic appearance goes!