Preoperative Washing of Surgical Gloves in Order to Remove Corn Starch

Abstract

It is known that corn starch which is used as surgical glove lubricant has been tried to be preoperatively either by wet pads or by washing, in order to prevent foreign body reaction and adhesion formation. The effectivities of these two methods were measured in this experimental study. The corn starch quantities on the outer surfaces of three groups of gloves (10 pairs each) - cleaned with wet pads, washed and control groups, respectively - were determined by weighing the nitrate of washing water from pyrex glasses (Gooch glasses). It was found that there was 0.47996 gr corn starch on the outer surface of one pair of gloves, there remained 0.17310 gr (%36.06) after cleaning with wet pads, by contrast, 0.4565 gr (%95.35) was removed and 0.01342 gr (%2.79) was remained after washing. It is concluded that, preoperative washing of surgical gloves is more effective than cleaning with wet pads in order to remove the corn starch and can be an alternative for starch-free gloves, especially in infertility surgery.