title: Dangers of dermatologic surgery: protect your feet.
abstract: Dermatologists frequently utilize scalpels, which are reported to be to culprit in around seven percent of the 385,000 sharps-related injuries sustained by healthcare personnel a year. Injuries from sharp devices are associated with the occupational transmission of more than 20 pathogens. Dropped scalpels may penetrate unprotected lower extremity skin, and there is no published data regarding what a shoe's actual degree of protection is against the danger of falling sharps. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and determine which types of shoes will protect their wearers. Although every shoe decreased falling sharp's degree of penetration into the feet, shoes cannot be relied on to prevent injury. More than half of the shoes allowed the scalpel blade to pass through the shoes and penetrate into the meat.
authors.affiliation: SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Winthrop University Hospital, Brooklyn, New York, USA. doctorjb18@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Jerome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Barr
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Siegel
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D003880:Dermatology; D018409:Foot Injuries / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D016602:Needlestick Injuries / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011481:Protective Clothing; D012775:Shoes; D013523:Surgical Equipment