Surgeon's garb and infection control: What's the evidence?

Surgical site infections are an important complication resulting from surgery. Before the 20th century a significant number of surgeries resulted in death from sepsis. One of the rituals resulting from efforts to reduce infection is the donning of surgical garb. A large body of literature has developed on the efficacy of these specialized garments. The available evidence for the efficacy of each individual garb at reducing surgical site infections will be explored. The relevance of this evidence to the outpatient dermatologic surgical setting will also be discussed. (J Am Acad Dermatol 2011;64:960-73)