Green surgical clothing is pretty ubiquitous in the field. This is more than just a color choice. Blue and green surgical scrubs have a few real advantages over other colors, especially the white scrubs that care providers used in the past.
Surgery & Seeing Red
To understand why surgical scrubs are green (or blue), it is first important to discuss the conditions that a surgeon is most often dealing with. Past the skin, the human body is primarily many shades of red. Our muscles, blood and (to some extent) internal organs are generally red. Different shades of red can sometimes tell a surgeon important details about a particular area’s condition. Even parts of the body that aren’t inherently red will typically be covered with blood as a surgeon works.
A surgeon will potentially need to stare at this dominantly red environment for hours, with even minor errors potentially having catastrophic consequences for a patient. Their deep focus on the color red can have negative consequences. One of the most important is the potential for visual illusions. Surgeons can start to see distracting green illusions on white surfaces after spending long periods looking at red.
Counteracting the Phenomenon
While not the sole reason surgeons began to wear green or blue scrubs, the distracting illusions one might see on white surfaces when staring at red for too long definitely was a major factor in the shift away from white scrubs. While this visual effect can still occur when surgeons are wearing these colors, any issues will tend to be much less distracting.
A green visual illusion over a white surface is extremely visible. Surgeons work in teams. One needs to consider not only that they might see these illusions over their colleagues and their own arms if they were wearing white but also that these white elements will be moving around. This can only intensify how potentially distracting the phenomenon is.
Meanwhile, a green illusion over green clothing can be fairly hard to notice. The illusion will blend in with the clothes. This makes the illusion far easier to ignore and can help the surgeon focus on their work. A surgical blue hue works similarly. Even if the visual illusion is easier to see than on green clothing, it will be much harder to see when compared to if a person is wearing white. As of late red scrubs are typically only worn in the behavioral health segment of hospitals.
Other Uses
There are some other benefits to green or blue surgical scrubs specifically, such as these:
Improved Visibility
An important element of vision is contrast. It’s easier to see colors when they’re surrounded by colors that are opposite on a color wheel. In a surgical environment, every advantage can help improve a surgeon’s chances of success. Contrasting clothing may not dramatically improve how easy it is to see their work, but if it helps at all, it should generally be prioritized.
Looking at a color wheel, green is opposite red. Blue is adjacent to green. This means many green hues and at least some blue hues contrast well with the red hues a surgeon will be staring at when performing surgery.
Reducing Momentary Blindness
Sudden shifts in what one is looking at can cause this same sort of issue. Looking at dark reds and then suddenly shifting one’s gaze to a colleague dressed in all white is known to sometimes cause this same problem. White scrubs, as it turned out, can be extremely visually distracting. This issue in particular didn’t require that surgeons specifically switch to green or blue scrubs (with some colors actually potentially reducing this issue even more), but changing away from white was important.
Ease of Cleaning
Surgery is an inherently dirty, staining practice. Although it’s critical that a surgeon and their tools are as clean as feasibly possible when beginning an operation, the human body is full of blood and microorganisms. A surgeon will get some fluids from their patient onto their clothes and tools. Quickly and efficiently performing surgery is a greater priority than staying clean.
Green and blue scrubs clean more easily. Stains are still easy enough to spot and address, but green and blue scrubs look better with regular use than white scrubs do.
Note that not all medical and research clothing benefits from not being white. Lab coats and clean room suits are often white, for example. If you’d like to learn more about clean room suits, you can read this piece we’ve written on the topic.
Alsco’s Scrubs & Medical Uniforms
Best practices in medicine are always evolving and with good reason. As we better understand our world and our own limitations, we can make adjustments to maximize the chances that a patient successfully recovers from an ailment based on the most up-to-date information. If a practice can be changed to improve those chances, it should be. This is why surgeons stopped wearing white scrubs and began to favor green and blue options.
If you’re looking to equip a team with scrubs or any other type of medical uniform, Alsco can help. Read about the services we offer and find out why our brand is so well regarded after over a century of operation. When you use our medical uniforms and scrubs services, we can manage your entire scrub inventory for you, ensuring you always have high-quality, clean options on hand.
References
Why Are Scrubs Usually Green or Blue? (November 2019). BoardVitals.