Pre-Operative Hair Removal and Post-Operative Wound Infection

Post-operative wound infection has remained a potent challenge to the success of surgery. Since the discovery of Anaesthesia, conquering pain, fear and anxiety; surgical site infection has remained the last frontier for the surgeon. Many antiseptic strategies were devised over the years to significantly reduce bacterial count at the surgical field and enhance the probability of having an infection free post-operative wound. Pre-operative shaving of hair within the surgical field has remained an important ritual performed by many surgeons to improve cleanliness of the operative area and perhaps, reduce the risk of Surgical Site Infection. No consensus has been reached on the utility of the pre-operative depilation and recently it was suspected to be a culprit in the causation of post-operative wound infection. This book tried to assess the role of the pre-operative depilation in the causation of post-operative wound infection and made recommendations for the safest, cheapest and the most efficient method of preoperative depilation.