An Unusual Question about Surgery

[pinto]

I’ve had just one surgery–an IH one, so I have little experience. In my IH surgery, I had something I never saw with surgery depicted on TV or in movies–a blinder so that I could not see any of the medical staff and their actions throughout my surgery. This blinder was not over my eyes but a strip of canvas erected across my upper chest, limiting my view to the ceiling. Is this what surgeons/hospitals do in your experience?

[drtowfigh]

What you saw was the sterile draping we use during surgery it is a large often blue canvas that is sterile and blocks off surrounding unsterile areas from the operating field. You do see it on TV as well. The anesthesiologist, who is not sterile, sits on the other side of the draping, near your head. The draping also helps prevent bodily fluids from spraying onto the anesthesiologist and your face.

The drapery has nothing to do with preventing you from seeing the surgeon’s activity.

[pinto]

Thank you for that.

[Author]

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