Electrostatic Charges Generated on the Surface of Eye Drapes During Surgery

In eye surgery, eye drapes are used to separate and protect the eye area duringsurgical operations and medical tests. They are often made of non-woven fabricsmade of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) film. They are sterile to preventcontact with unsterile surfaces and to maintain the sterility of surrounding surfacesand the medical equipment. The present work investigates the electrostatic charges(ESC) generated on the surface of the eye drapes and doctor gown during surgerywhen they touch each other.The experiments in the present work showed that it was found that at dry contact,the generated ESC significantly increased when the load increased. Because humanskin of the patient is good conductor, ESC generated on eye drape was lower thanthat observed for doctor gown. Sliding of the gown on eye drape showed higherintensity of ESC compared to contact/separation. It was observed that water wetsurfaces exhibited higher ESC values in both contact/separation and slidingaccumulated on the surface of eye drape. As result of that, an electric field may begenerated and disturb the performance of the electronic appliances used in surgery.Finally, it is recommended to replace latex gloves by PE ones.