A problem commonly encountered by all surgical staff in theaters is the slipping of glasses down the bridge of the nose, especially during long operations–and with the warm environment of theaters, following perspiration. The bridge of the nose and backs of the ears where the glasses rest are rich in sebaceous glands, and the surfaces can become slippery. The problem is even worse with the new plastic/carbon-fiber frames. The glasses cannot be touched by the surgeon, as this would lead to contamination. It becomes a problem to repeatedly request your glasses to be pushed back by unscrubbed staff.
A number of fancy bands are available to hold glasses in place (), but they are expensive and tedious to use.
We propose a simple solution to this problem. Before scrubbing, while the surgeon is wearing the face mask the strings of the mask can be rolled around the temple extensions (legs) of the glasses (). This can be done on one temple extension or on both sides.
We have found that this provides robust support to the glasses and eliminates the problem of the frames slipping.
Editor’s comment: Several of us have tried this, with success. However, a note of caution: if you forget that you have tied your glasses in place as suggested, you can damage them if you remove the mask by just tearing it away.