Surgeon protection: early recognition of glove perforation using a green under glove

This paper reports the use of a double gloving system, which consists of a standard latex over glove and a green latex under glove, and aids recognition of intra-operative glove perforation during trauma surgery. Recognition of perforation is possible due to the colour of the under glove becoming more visable following ingress of fluid between the glove layers. The gloves were used in 40 consecutive operative procedures for lower limb fracture fixation. Glove perforations occurred in 48% of operations. The outer glove was perforated on 26 occasions and the under glove on two. There were no false positive colour changes but on one occasion no indication of perforation was visible. The rapidity and accuracy of colour change allowed identification of the cause of glove damage intra-operatively. This was most often due to powered instrumentation (58%).