Dr Alexander Zühlke received his medical degree from Aachen University (Germany) and specialized in Plastic Surgery at the Bergmannsheil Buer Hospital (Germany) and Tygerberg Hospital Stellenbosch University (South Africa). After an ear reconstruction and cosmetic fellowship in Paris with Dr Firmin in 2002 and four years as a consultant in Plastic Surgery and subspecialist in Hand Surgery in Germany, he returned to Cape Town in 2006. Dr Zühlke is a consultant in the division of Plastic and Reconstructive surgery at Tygerberg Hospital Stellenbosch University and has been the acting head over many years.
He integrated plastic surgery in various multidisciplinary teams (breast, head and neck, cleft lip and palate). As a pioneering microsurgeon, Dr Zühlke established the division as a leading centre for free tissue transfer.
He is a Fellow of the College of Plastic Surgeons of South Africa, a Fellow of the European Board of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery (EBOPRAS) and a member of APRASSA and DGPRÄC (Deutsche Gesellschaft der Plastischen, Rekonstruktiven und Ästhetischen Chirurgen). He was essential in the planning and execution of the world’s first successful penis transplant in 2014 published in the Lancet and in 2017 lead the Plastic Surgery team to reproduce this success making Tygerberg Hospital the only hospital worldwide where this transplant was performed twice.