Surgical pearl: When you need a third hand, tape and gauze will do

Journal Pre-proof Surgical pearl: When you need a third hand, tape and gauze will do Mohammed I. AlJasser, MBBS FRCPC, Gillian de Gannes, MD FRCPC PII:

S0190-9622(19)32611-8

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2019.08.037

Reference:

YMJD 13757

To appear in:

Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology

Received Date: 22 July 2019 Accepted Date: 2 August 2019

Please cite this article as: AlJasser MI, de Gannes G, Surgical pearl: When you need a third hand, tape and gauze will do, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology (2019), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.jaad.2019.08.037. This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. © 2019 Published by Elsevier on behalf of the American Academy of Dermatology, Inc.

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Surgical pearl: When you need a third hand, tape and gauze will do Mohammed I. AlJasser MBBS FRCPC1; Gillian de Gannes MD FRCPC2 1

Division of Dermatology, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 2

Department of Dermatology and Skin Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Corresponding author Mohammed I. AlJasser MBBS Division of Dermatology King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences P.O. Box 3660, Riyadh 11481 Saudi Arabia Tel: +966-11-4299999 ext. 95211 Fax: +966-11-429 9999 Ext. 95148 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

Funding Sources: None

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Conflict of interest: None disclosed

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Word count: 120

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Tables: 0

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Figures: 1

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References: 0

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Acknowledgements: None

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Key words: biopsy; surgery; gauze; tape; pad; surgical assist; bleeding; blood

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Challenge

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Skin biopsies are commonly performed in daily practice. It is not uncommon for the

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physician to do the procedure without having an assistant. Bleeding from the biopsy site

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might be a source inconvenience for the surgeon. This is especially true if no assistant

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is available to apply pressure over the site or wipe away the blood.

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Solution

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A pad made of multiple 2x2 pieces of gauze can be used (Fig. 1). The pad is placed 2-3

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cm away from the biopsy site and in the direction of gravity. The pad is then fixed in

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place by tape. Any blood coming from the biopsy site will be absorbed by the gauze pad

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while the surgeon continues the procedure (Fig. 1).

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Figure legend

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Figure 1. Gauze and tape as surgical assist. Multiple pieces of 2x2 gauze are used. Gauze should be placed 2-3 cm away from the biopsy site in the direction of gravity. The gauze pad is then secured in place with tape (left). This ensures that any blood from the biopsy site will be absorbed by the gauze pad while the surgeon completes the procedure (right).

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