Only medical leeches from serious suppliers should
be used. Wild animals increase the risk of severe
infections [5].
The site where leeches are to be placed should be
clean and free of ointments, pasts etc. Cleaning can be
done by sterile Ringer solution, physiological sodium
chloride solution or sterile water.
Leeches are fast and elegant swimmers in water (“sweet
water dolphins”). And they can move rapidly on the
patient’s skin as well. To apply them correctly, a 5 ml
syringe were the nozzle was removed by scissor, can be
used. The leech is placed into the prepared syringe and
the syringe is directly applied on the skin surface to be
treated with its open end. When the leech is feeding,
the syringe is removed [6].
Some authors use anchoring sutures on medical leeches
to ensure that the leeches stay in place. In a small trial
no adverse effect on leech survival was noted by such
a method [7]. The question remains whether this will
negatively affect the feeding behavior.
The number of leeches applied depends on the size
of the area that has to be treated. The Iowa Head and
Neck Protocol recommends to applied leeches every 2
hours. The spots where the leeches are placed should
be changed. The duration of leech treatment is until