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His army-inspired method of sealing head wounds now used worldwide
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Associate Professor Marcus Ong's method uses hair and tissue glue to seal a head wound, thus avoiding the need for stitching and shaving.
PHOTO: SGH
Samantha Boh
As a trainee doctor about 20 years ago at Singapore General Hospital's emergency medicine department, Associate Professor Marcus Ong often spent Friday and Saturday nights patching up people injured in drunken brawls.
Some would turn up with deep gashes in their scalp, having taken a glass bottle to the head. The patient would need his head shaved on both sides of the wound before local anaesthetic was applied and the wound stitched.
