Best headlamp for surgery...?

[DemonDan]

I know this question has been asked before - but I couldn't find any recent discussions.

There's an excellent description of the characteristics of such a light over at "Magos Biologis Philippinensis" blog: http://magos-biologis.blogspot.com/2010/01/surgical-grade-headlamp-versus-ordinary.html

* Spill. A hiker, spelunker or whatever uses both his peripheral vision as well as being focused on what is ahead. This is why most flashlights and headlights, aside from the bright spot, also have a lot of light that spills over. A surgeon does not use his peripheral vision much. If he is using loupes, he cant use his peripheral vision becuase he is totally concentrated on what is within the field of view of the loupe. The ideal surgical headlamp must have a very concentrated cone of light focused a handlength away, with little or no spill. Spilled light just wastes energy.

* Comfort. A surgical headlight must be utterly comfortable. I've used headlights that cause headaches when used for a long time unless you move it around. Surgeons can be wearing the headlight for hours so it has to be utterly comfortable. A surgeon cannot adjust the headlight by himself because he is sterile so there better be no pressure points that can cause pain and skin ulcers.

* Tilt adjustment. The led lenser headlights are notorious for this. The hinge has ratchets so the tilt can only be adjusted to a certain number of angles. If you are not wearing loupes you can just tilt your eyeballs up or down so that your field of vision conicides with the focus of the light. If you are wearing loupes you cant do that. A work around is to move the headlamp up or down on the forehead. And the light better stay pointed where it is set. A surgeon can't easily adjust a headlamp once he is sterile.

* Coaxiality. If you're a hiker it doesnt matter if your light is a meter away from your eyes. You can still see. If however you are looking down a small pipe, then you need the light to be near your eyes. Most surgical lights have the emitter in between or maybe slightly above the line of sight

* Intensity. For a hiker, most likely it would be night time so even a weak light will help. A surgeon using a headlamp already has the operating light shining on the patient so his pupils will be already contracted. So the intensity needs to be high. Photographers would be familiar with this. Try photographing the contents of a tin can in bright sunlight without a flash, with the interior of the can in shadow. Thats what surgeons deal with all the time. Plus loupes tend to decrease the aparrent light intensity. However there are times when a weak headlight will work. These include office or bedside procedures or surgeries where the surgical light is focused on some other part of the body, as long as the headlamp does not have to fight against an operating room light. Of course you could just turn down the operating room light. But then your assistan and the nurses cant see anything unless you get them their own lights.

* Switch. A surgical headlamp ideally would have a switch that the surgeon can turn on and off without breaking sterility. You can macgyver this by installing a switch at say belt level. Just press the switch through your sterile gown.

* Modes. Most often you only need 2 modes, OFF and MAXIMUM. A normal user would maybe need other modes like flashing or low modes.

I think the main requirements are a tight beam, smoothly variable (non-ratcheted) angle adjustment and, ideally, an external/rechargeable battery pack.

Any suggestions from the current crop?

Dan.

 

[TKC]

A surgeon does NOT EVER turn on his own head light during surgery.He can't, because when he is gowned and gloved the surgeon is sterile, the plug to the head lamp hangs off the back of his gown, and the nurse plugs that into the unsterile light box. He wears one that is plugged in, and the nurse turns it on. What is used in surgery is a head light that IS plugged in. I know, as I AM a surgical Technologist.

 

[Chauncey Gardner]

Is this going to be a Zombie Apocalypse type operating situation?

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=273587

Or are you just looking for a more tightly focused headlamp?

 

[electrothump]

Are you a coroner?

DN

 

[LittleBill]

please let me know what hospital you work at so i can avoid it at all costs

 

[Burgess]

_

 

[RlxdN10sity]

A surgeon does NOT EVER turn on his own head light during surgery.He can't, because when he is gowned and gloved the surgeon is sterile, the plug to the head lamp hangs off the back of his gown, and the nurse plugs that into the unsterile light box. He wears one that is plugged in, and the nurse turns it on. What is used in surgery is a head light that IS plugged in. I know, as I AM a surgical Technologist.

So what make and model head lamps do surgeons use?

 

[mossyoak]

I'd bet Welch Allyn makes them

 

[RlxdN10sity]

I'd bet Welch Allyn makes them

You are correct. The ones they offer are apparently fiber optic. Light source sits on a table or whatever and a fiber connector delivers light to the head lamp lens and whalaa!

 

[DemonDan]

A surgeon does NOT EVER turn on his own head light during surgery. I know, as I AM a surgical Technologist.

I know as I am a SURGEON. On my hospital they are typically set-up and adjusted before scrubbing in - and then any fine adjustments are made by nurses/technicians in the OR. There would never be a need to turn it on and off during the procedure. The benefit of an external battery pack is that if it's kept in the back pocket, it can be swapped out if needed.

Are you a coroner?

No - but they too might find such a light useful.

please let me know what hospital you work at so i can avoid it at all costs

Unless you have 4 legs and a wet nose you're unlikely to end up on my operating table. As well as having more legs, my patients typically have more intelligence than you. OK - before you go off on one, just calm down - it's not your fault...

So what make and model head lamps do surgeons use?

Depends on the type of surgeon (medical, dental, veterinary), the situation (in the OR or in the field, wearing loupes or not etc), the procedure, personal preference.... My hospital has some of these:
http://www.designsforvision.com/DentHtml/DentLite.htm
but other examples include these:
http://www.dentistrytoday.net/ME2/d...91&tier=4&id=4AD8807EB48645F48259FBA3D8D154C0
As someone mentioned, there are also varieties with an external light source.

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions to answer my original question I'd be really grateful.

Thanks everybody! Especially you LittleBill

Dan.

 

[Shorty66]

Unless you have 4 legs and a wet nose you're unlikely to end up on my operating table. As well as having more legs, my patients typically have more intelligence than you. OK - before you go off on one, just calm down - it's not your fault...

 

[electrothump]

Ahhhh, got a little moxie working here. Way to hang!

DN

 

[Appleonius]

What kind of loupes do you have if any? What's the mag?
As a dental student, i'm about to buy one of 2 products from http://www.lumadent.com/ . I already have a Lenser H7 so I can mod my loupes & mount it or keep it on the headband. But since I already have the loupes, I was thinking about the featherweight complete light system they have. People on DentalTown have had very positive reviews when comparing them to the big company lights.

if you do have loupes, ppl are reporting that the lenser setup is good for 2.5-3x but you may need a higher output if you have 4-6x.

edit: alternatively, you can buy the cheap DealExtreme knockoff of the H7 for $20 shipped & try that method.

 

[kitelights]

I can't believe that no one has brought up the issue of CRI. The OP's list of 'factors' refers to typical sports type headlamps, 95%+ of which are LED and do a very poor job of allowing you to see tissue color with any accuracy.

There are some newer LEDs that offer real world CRI, but I don't know of anyone using them in production.

Someone, I think it may have been Don (McGizmo) made some lights with it and while in development, CPF member Baby Doc was a tester and made some favorable comments on it for use in the medical field.

All of the typical discussions regarding spot, flood, intensity, adjustability, modes, etc., are pretty much a waste of time if you can't identify a nearly accurate color of the tissue that you're working on.

I can imagine that there may be some surgeries that don't require an accurate CRI, but I just can't see taking a chance.

 

[eatkabab]

del wrong area

 

[jackleung]

A Cool-view headlamp will be one of the best for surgical ??

http://www.cool-view.com/model-1400-xl

I know this question has been asked before - but I couldn't find any recent discussions.

There's an excellent description of the characteristics of such a light over at "Magos Biologis Philippinensis" blog: http://magos-biologis.blogspot.com/2010/01/surgical-grade-headlamp-versus-ordinary.html



I think the main requirements are a tight beam, smoothly variable (non-ratcheted) angle adjustment and, ideally, an external/rechargeable battery pack.

Any suggestions from the current crop?

Dan.

 

[jackleung]

I can't believe that no one has brought up the issue of CRI. The OP's list of 'factors' refers to typical sports type headlamps, 95%+ of which are LED and do a very poor job of allowing you to see tissue color with any accuracy.

There are some newer LEDs that offer real world CRI, but I don't know of anyone using them in production.

Someone, I think it may have been Don (McGizmo) made some lights with it and while in development, CPF member Baby Doc was a tester and made some favorable comments on it for use in the medical field.

All of the typical discussions regarding spot, flood, intensity, adjustability, modes, etc., are pretty much a waste of time if you can't identify a nearly accurate color of the tissue that you're working on.

I can imagine that there may be some surgeries that don't require an accurate CRI, but I just can't see taking a chance.

A good CRI usually in the range of color temperature around 4500-5500K. But now most of the medical surgical headlamp companies are promoting natural sunlight which has at least 5500K- 6500K, therefore they will never get the CRI right.

Moreover, according to the IEC or FDA regulation, it seems that no standard for the CRI issue yet for surgical headlight.

Agree?

 

[srfreddy]

The highest CCT High CRI led is 4000k or so, the rebel es. It'll be quite some time before the color temps. are up to 5500k.

 

[Bolster]

I'll give a shot at answering the question, without sniping at the OP. As others have said, high CRI would be very desirable. There are high CRI headlamps on the drawing board currently from Zebralight, SureFire, and Spark (I think, or else warm tint, can someone please verify). So my answer would be "Wait a little bit until the high CRIs come out." I'm a flood-o-holic so I don't know the spot world very well, but I would start investigating the Sparks for very bright intense beams. You can begin your research at either of the two threads in my sig line.

Remember that high CRI and tint color are two different animals (no pun intended, doc). High CRI is not a specific tint. Burning embers are high CRI, but way red tint.

 

[martinharris]

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]The maker of a very good surgical headlights is xenosys. It's very lightweight, has an intense beam and has 4 different intensity settings. The best part about it is that it comes with 2 batteries, so you can use the headlamp and have a 2nd battery charging. This is especially useful during the longer surgical cases.
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