Improving Surgeons' Comfort With Prismatic Glasses During Cleft Palate Surgery: Preliminary Findings

We aimed to observe the effect of prismatic glasses on improving surgeons' comfort during cleft palate surgery.

A within-subjects design was used. We included 3 oral-maxillofacial surgeons and 6 patients with complete cleft palate in the study. One group of cleft palate patients (3 complete cleft palates) was allocated to each of the 3 surgeons not wearing prismatic glasses, and another similar group of cleft palate patients was allocated to the same 3 surgeons wearing prismatic glasses. The push-back method was performed in all cleft palate patients by all surgeons. The degree of neck flexion exhibited by all surgeons was digitally video recorded. Screen-capture images of the video recordings were collected, and neck flexion in all video recordings was analyzed. All surgeons completed a questionnaire based on a visual analog scale to assess their discomfort symptoms of the neck, shoulders, and back. Operative time and bleeding volume were recorded to assess operational efficiency.

Use of prismatic glasses significantly reduced surgeons' working time spent in pronounced neck flexion during cleft palate surgery (P < .05), and there was a statistically significant reduction in the visual analog scale discomfort scores for the neck, back, and shoulders with the use of prismatic glasses (P < .05). However, no significant difference was found in operational time (P = .337) and bleeding volume (P = .183) attributable to the presence or absence of prismatic glasses.

An ergonomic approach to cleft palate surgery in which surgeons wore prismatic glasses improved neck, back, and shoulder comfort.