General Surgery and Facial Hair

[callhiminsane]

Hello, question for anybody in general surgery residency...is it OK for guys to sport "intermittent" facial hair while on call. I'm the kind of guy who can shave at 7 A.M. and have a 5 o'clock shadow by noon. And it gets exponentiall worse after that...as in I look like I haven't shaved for an entire week after only about 3 days. So I'm wondering...is it OK to only shave once in a while (1-2x per week) during residency, or is this considered "unprofessional" when you make rounds and consulate with patients. I'm asking because I hate shaving in the first place and only shave 1-2x a week as it is now, and the last thing I need is to do it like 2-3x while on a 36-hour call.

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[njbmd]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Mr Vain:
•Hello, question for anybody in general surgery residency...is it OK for guys to sport "intermittent" facial hair while on call. I'm the kind of guy who can shave at 7 A.M. and have a 5 o'clock shadow by noon. And it gets exponentiall worse after that...as in I look like I haven't shaved for an entire week after only about 3 days. So I'm wondering...is it OK to only shave once in a while (1-2x per week) during residency, or is this considered "unprofessional" when you make rounds and consulate with patients. I'm asking because I hate shaving in the first place and only shave 1-2x a week as it is now, and the last thing I need is to do it like 2-3x while on a 36-hour call.•••••Hi there,
As long as you cover your facial hair with mask or mask/hood in the OR, it should not be a problem. If your PD has a problem with it, they will generally let you know. You can explain the situation at that point or else, keep an electric shaver in your locker for a quick touch up. I would just avoid a "scraggly, unkept" look by making sure your hair is well-groomed and clean.

Another consideration might be your patients. Generally, this is most important in the clinics during the day. In the early am during pre-rounds, they are too sleepy to notice who is even there and at night in the ER, they are so grateful for relief of illness that it doesn't matter what's on your face.

 

[Grohaila]

Why not a short, weekly trimmed beard?
Would that be anathema to Surgery OR?

 

[tussy]

One of the guys in my program had to shave his beloved beard a few weeeks into the PGY1 year. It was such a hassle wearing the hood/beard covers in the OR, and the OR nurses always hassling about it. It was just easier to shave it off.

 

[dr.evil]

One of my attendings is EXTREMELY old school and is largely against any type of facial hair on men as he deems it unprofessional. I've seen him call out guys who were on call simply because they could not spare the 5 minutes to shave.

Who knows. I'm sure it's progam dependent. Shaving sucks. I can't imagine having to shave my legs!

 

[vhl]

I don't know..., my dad is an extremely old-school surgeon, with a short, neatly (OK, obsessively) trimmed beard! Probably depends on the institution how it is looked on.

 

[dbiddy808]

What about hair lenght on a guy?

 

[Winged Scapula]

I think it highly depends on your PD and faculty. I gather here that the PD prefers the guys to be shaven and with shorter hair and I know that to be true at many other programs (especially in clinic as noted in a previous post). As for hair length, my BF is at a local community program and he sports hair to his mid-back - he's given a bit of flak for it, but they haven't asked him to cut it off. I suppose if your program is liberal enough and you keep it neat and do a good job, you can probably get away with longer hair. Like others, I suggest keeping an electric razor around for quick touch ups which it seems most of the guys here do between real blade shaves.