“What you cant see, you shouldn’t cut.”
No one would ever argue that proper light is one of the most critical elements in the success and outcome of a surgical procedure. The most obvious example is – what you cant see, you shouldn’t cut.
Inadequate lighting can affect a surgeon’s accuracy, adverse events, a patient’s well-being, and outcome success- not to mention fatigue and strain on the surgical team.
And it doesn’t matter if it’s a private practice dermatologist, mohs surgeon, wound care surgeon, General surgeon or even non surgeons such as estheticians for dermaplaning, first responders and military medics- anyone that wields a scalpel needs to visualize what they are cutting before they do. There’s no way around it.
Traditional surgical light systems are used in medical offices, ambulatory surgery centers, hospitals, research facilities, educational institutions, and veterinary clinics throughout the world.
We know them by many names and types: :operating room lights, OR lights, surgical lamps, surgical procedure lights, procedure lights, and procedure lamps. They come as one of 3 main options: movable lamps on floor, like a lamp, wall mounted or ceiling mounted.
The source of light ranges from Xenon to LED, but LED remains the best and most practical for many reasons including cost, Lux characteristics, light temperature, and glare but central is that they do not produce heat in operating theater.
Even the best surgical lights still have shortcomings. It’s impractical for an office to outfit each exam room with OR level lighting. A practice could spend anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 to install surgical level lighting. And still, after spending these amounts, there are shadows and obstructions blocking the light on the surgical field.
No matter the cost, quality, or positioning of surgical lighting-, no lighting systems solves the problem of obstructed light.
If you cut in anatomic danger zone areas, where critical branches of facial nerve and arteries lie or in concave areas such as behind an ear, or in an orifice, such as intranasal or mouth, or undermine a flap with a scalpel , you can testify to this first hand. You bend your neck, contort your head, strain your back and genuflect your knees to negotiate a view that optimizes illumination and even still shadows obscure your field.
The reality- surgeons in private practice live with inadequate lighting and most rely on existing drop ceilings with florescent or LED non-surgical lighting and loupes and have had to accept shadows, obstructions and inadequate visualization. There was no good solution to overcome these hindrances.
No good solution that is …until now.
The frustration caused me to create Lumohs, the first affordable re-usable scalpel illuminating device. The challenge was getting the light in what I call “the last mile” between the surgical site and the scalpel blade and making sure it was affordable and re-usable. I believe this was accomplished as we created a scalpel handle that has functional utility beyond just holding a blade- now , with Lumohs, a surgeon can provide for illumination targeted directly on the site. Lumohs is for any doctor/surgeon that wields a scalpel for any reason.
If you’re a surgeon and would like affordable, unobstructed , shadowless light directly on the surgical site , for pennies compared to thousands, check out Lumohs.
