Glasses and corrective eyewear are everywhere. The human eye is complex, but it is prone to disorders and errors that can blur vision. Because of this, glasses are invaluable for billions of people.
Yes, surgeons can wear glasses. Correct vision is critical during surgeries. The patients’ lives can depend on the surgeon having alert eyesight, especially during emergencies.
Surgeons even wear dedicated loupes or magnifications for them to see the areas treated during the surgical operation.
Because of this, people tend to imagine physicians wearing glasses. Some of us even wear them only to look stunning and trendy! But eyewear is indispensable for surgeons who have vision errors.
Common eye problems solved by glasses
According to the World Health Organization, over two billion people suffer from nearsightedness or farsightedness. These eye disorders can affect both young and aging people.
Surgeons can be among them. Given the stress and fatigue that they go through, surgeons are at risk of having poor eyesight. Lack of sleep and strain from reading can cause refractive errors or vision blurriness, in other words.
Eyeglasses can correct the surgeons’ eye problems such as the following:
- Myopia or nearsightedness. In this disorder, objects become blurry as they become farther from the eyes. A concave lens can correct myopia.
- Hyperopia or farsightedness. Here, closer objects are more blurry compared to distant ones. As this worsens, the person’s entire vision can become blurry. A convex lens alleviates its error.
- Presbyopia. As the eyes’ lens becomes harder through the years, the eyes become less focused. This disorder makes it tenuous for a person to read closely. A cylinder-shaped lens can correct this disorder.
- Astigmatism. This disorder makes vision entirely blurred and distorted. Bifocal or multifocal lenses can correct this refractive error.
Glasses or contacts?
Although surgeons can wear glasses inside and outside the operating room, it has distracting flaws. Their spectacles can have smudges, fogs, and scratches that may block the surgeons’ vision.
Glasses can have a glare, and they can even slide down from the surgeon’s nose. Worse, surgeons cannot touch their spectacles, or else they will have to scrub in again.
Many surgeons who need corrective lenses wear contacts instead. But contact lenses give another bunch of inconveniences and issues.
First, surgeons must remove their contact lenses after at least eight hours to let their eyes rest. Because of this, they cannot wear these during extensive surgeries.
Contact lenses can also react to aerosolized bodily liquids from the patient. So, as a precaution, surgeons may also wear face shields or safety glasses.
Surgical loupes
Surgeons wearing glasses can also install surgical loupes on their eyewear. Loupes are magnifying lenses that can help them see the organs’ fine and delicate details.
Loupes also relieve the surgeons’ eyes from strain and help them keep their proper posture.
Sellers and manufacturers offer surgical loupes based on their resolution, field of view, depth, and magnification. However, many modern operating rooms have powerful surgical microscopes that are easier to use.