ST. LOUIS -- A Betadine wash used to prepare the vagina for surgery should be applied and left to dry while the surgeon scrubs up, Dr. Sebastian Faro recommended.
Betadine (povidone-iodine) works as it dries, so there is no point in applying it immediately before starting surgery, "because the first thing that everybody does is wipe the Betadine out," he said at a conference on vaginal surgery sponsored by the Society of Pelvic Reconstructive Surgeons.
For all the good that the Betadine "ritual" does, one might just as well use a saline wash or light candies and pray the patient doesn't get infected, added Dr. Faro, professor and chair of ob.gyn. at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Chicago, Ill.
"You can't sterilize the vagina. The vaginal organisms that are significant are the ones adhering to the tissue. You do not remove those with a wash," he said.
Still, Dr. Faro and others on a panel discussing preparation of the vagina for surgery said they use a Betadine wash, Betadine gel, or other iodine wash before surgery as a precaution.
Once-popular Betadine douches that were given the night before surgery fell out of favor when studies showed that vaginal flora recolonize the vagina within 3 hours of a Betadine wash. Perhaps a better idea would be to apply Betadine gel the night before surgery and let it sit there overnight, Dr. Faro speculated. That approach has not been studied.
COPYRIGHT 1999 International Medical News Group
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
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