Why We Wear Blue in the Operating Room

Scrub in. Give praise. Don't contaminate.

When it's time for surgery, where your hands are is important as the sterile field is only so big. Put your hands up too high, or drop them at any point, you have been contaminated. That means you'll have to scrub in again. Once or twice is forgivable, and you can go and relieve yourself when you're out, but enough times and you'll likely be replaced.

Though I'm just a student, I take this seriously. A person's life is on the line, and death via bacterial contamination caused by flippant neglect is the last thing we need. I can't help but glare up at my fellow operators when they do.

Many people have asked me why we wear the colors we do during surgery. Most physicians can wear whatever they like, but a surgeon's choice of dress is limited to shades of blue and green. I've wondered this myself, of course, so here's what I have.

First there is the matter of blood. The shades you are accustomed to seeing in the OR provides contrast so that, if blood jets out of the patient we know both where it came from and where it landed. When it has, the color of our scrubs and the light make the blood appear almost black, as if it weren't blood at all. If we were to wear any shade of red or purple, we would not be able to see it as well, if at all considering it the shades you can get tend to be darker. We advise all patients on the operating table to avoid such colors as well.

There is also the matter of bodily waste. Some patients may require a bed pan, and if something goes awry, we need to see that as well.

Lastly, it gives rest for your eyes. Most of your time in the OR is spent looking down at human flesh, cut open for examination or surgery proper, whichever you're put with as a student. The human body is comprised of about any shade of red you can think of. Imagine looking at an open gash for hours, it's color burning a negative into your eyes, only to look up and see someone wearing the same color group in front of you. Furthermore, if it's a long night and you're desperate for a break, it might really mess you up.

When I'm in the OR, the concept of humanity dissappears completely. I'm getting to a point where the operations are starting to meld together into each other. Old man, young woman; it's all the same anymore. There was a point where they became only their leg. Or their arm. Or their abdomen. A human part, not a human being.

There was a time I used to be afraid of blood, where I would quiver and shake at the mere sight if it. Now, it's as normal to me as water is.

These days, that's what scares me the most.