They are used in surgery to prevent sweat, facial hair, from dropping into an open field. They're not used in surgery to stop the transmission of viruses.
We recently spoke to several Yale Medicine doctors about the medical reasons why they wear masks. They are protective on several levels, explains
Manisha Juthani, MD, an infectious disease specialist. “It is really important for me to wear a mask when I'm taking care of patients who have a respiratory virus that I could be at risk of getting and then potentially giving to somebody else.” In fact, the only way she can treat patients with different infectious diseases is by wearing a medical-grade mask so she does not spread any disease or get sick herself.
David Mulligan, MD, chief of transplant surgery and immunology, knows the importance of masks even beyond the operating room. “When we make rounds, for example, on significantly immuno-compromised patients, we will have a mask on to try to help protect those patients from the spread of disease and to try to protect other patients from bringing potential pathogens like bacteria and viruses from one room to the next,” he says.
Yale Medicine doctors discuss the medical reasons behind mask-wearing.
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Surgeons cut people open and treat diseases through operations. Because of this, they make sure that there is no risk of bacterial infection or contamination — the lives of patients are at stake.
We imagine surgeons and operating room personnel wearing scrubs, rubber clogs, gowns, and gloves. All of these are used to block dirt, microbes, and particles from their hands and bodies.
But during the Covid-19 pandemic, the importance of surgical masks is amplified both in the health care industry and the public’s consciousness.
It may be hard to believe, but the mouth is the
dirtiest part of the human body. It is the home of billions of bacteria that thrive in the bits of food that we chew and swallow. Also, saliva can transmit viruses like common colds, rotavirus, hepatitis, and SARS-Cov-2.
1.Why do surgeons wear masks?
www.surgery.com.au