Ladies: Makeup on Surgery Rotation?

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Is wearing makeup okay during the surgery rotation?
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If you want to wear makeup, that's fine; no one will care. Do not expect to be able to have time to apply/reapply make up while at the hospital or on call, however. And keep in mind your hair is likely to get messed up by scrub caps and such as well, so keep it simple.

However, nail polish is a no-no if you are scrubbing into cases.
 
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Smurfette said:
If you want to wear makeup, that's fine; no one will care. Do not expect to be able to have time to apply/reapply make up while at the hospital or on call, however. And keep in mind your hair is likely to get messed up by scrub caps and such as well, so keep it simple.

However, nail polish is a no-no if you are scrubbing into cases.
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thank you for the info!
 
i have to say i got mesmerized a couple of times by some pretty eyes during surgery, and the mask just makes it more charming.
Sassy nurses 😀
 
Kahreek said:
i have to say i got mesmerized a couple of times by some pretty eyes during surgery, and the mask just makes it more charming.
Sassy nurses 😀
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weirdo
 
Anastomoses said:
weirdo
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? Some people have pretty eyes. When all you can see in an OR is a person's eyes (and maybe a general body shape based on their surgical gown), that's all you have to go by.

Reminds me of this clip from boondocks

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGE9sQGPkDc[/YOUTUBE]
 
Always. No one wants a med student who is a slob.
Even when I get in before 5, I put make up on. (Although I guess my studs get in even earlier than that.)
Last month, we had a huge roast for graduating chiefs and then partied until early the next morning -
staff were surprised that I looked fine (next to my chief, who looked like ****.)

Point is, don't look gross. If you're just not a make up person, at least look tidy. Guys, trim your effing facial hair if you're to have facial hair. No wrinkly scrubs out of the laundry basket. Just always, always look like you're ready to go (unless where you're going is a nightclub. I've also seen residents walk in wearing the same thing they were wearing the night before....another story for another day)
 
This is actually something you think about?

Seriously, enjoy your time as an MS3-MS4 as much as you can. Overall it blows, so stop wasting your time worrying about the small stuff. It is not worth the energy.

Do you really think whether or not you have makeup on under your surgical mask is going to effect your chances for a residency?

As a heads up, no matter what you do as an MS3/4, you really have no significant impact on the medical aspects of patient care. So spend some time learning to actually sit down and talk to your patients about things that aren't in a computer template.

Your patients don't care if you have lipstick on.
 
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I think appearance matters a lot more than you might think - patients want the person to be caring for them to look put together, not like they just rolled out of bed. It reflects how you go about your patient care. This goes for every aspect of your appearance - no wearing scrubs that have been balled up in the dryer, and keep your coat unwrinkled and buttoned up. Light makeup is completely acceptable. (Also I look like I'm 12 without it - it prevents the inevitable - are you old enough to be a doctor?)
 
Pegasus1731 said:
This is actually something you think about?

Seriously, enjoy your time as an MS3-MS4 as much as you can. Overall it blows, so stop wasting your time worrying about the small stuff. It is not worth the energy.

Do you really think whether or not you have makeup on under your surgical mask is going to effect your chances for a residency?

As a heads up, no matter what you do as an MS3/4, you really have no significant impact on the medical aspects of patient care. So spend some time learning to actually sit down and talk to your patients about things that aren't in a computer template.

Your patients don't care if you have lipstick on.
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M3/4 were some of the best years of my life, certainly the highlight of medical school. To each their own.

People do care how you look. If you look like a slob, male or female, it will come back to haunt you. Patient's and ancillary staff judge you not only on your expertise but also how you present yourself. The chief of surgery told me that he didn't trust a resident who had scuffs on the backs of his shoes. If they didn't have the attention to detail and pride in their work to polish the whole shoe, he didn't think that was a mark of someone who would pay close attention to his patients. Unfair? Silly? Stupid? Yes, yes, yes. Reality? Yes.
 
My chief of surgery told me if you look too polished, people are going to think that you can't be trusted. N=1 anecdotes FTW.

So moral of the story - look good, but not too good. What is good? Well lucky for you that's entirely subjective and dependent on the individual physician. Ain't medical school fun! You can never win. 😀
 
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ijn said:
My chief of surgery told me if you look too polished, people are going to think that you can't be trusted. N=1 anecdotes FTW.

So moral of the story - look good, but not too good. What is good? Well lucky for you that's entirely subjective and dependent on the individual physician. Ain't medical school fun! You can never win. 😀
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This is horrible advice. Was that attending unattractive? I don't know what is meant by 'looking too good' but I don't think you should ever discount your image as a physician or student physician. Pts would much prefer a well-dressed/well-groomed doctor over one who doesn't give 100%. Medicine is no different from any other job. Look your best at all times
 
MedicineMike said:
This is horrible advice. Was that attending unattractive? I don't know what is meant by 'looking too good' but I don't think you should ever discount your image as a physician or student physician. Pts would much prefer a well-dressed/well-groomed doctor over one who doesn't give 100%. Medicine is no different from any other job. Look your best at all times
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Agree.

I think that Chief is wrong and grossly misunderstands the importance of appearance in practice*.

Only once or twice have I heard a patient express disappointment that I wasn't wearing scrubs in the office. However, there have been innumerable occasions where patients have expressed the belief that a well dressed physician/well appointed office = successful and successful = good at what you do/respected physician.

That's not why I dress up or have a nicely decorated office, but that response from patients is a pleasant side benefit.

*that attending may be echoing the aphorism in surgery that you have to look a certain way when you present for the oral boards (e.g., I was told to "nerd it up" a bit and not wear my usual clothes/hairstyle). However, that is only for the boards, not for practice.
 
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MedicineMike said:
This is horrible advice. Was that attending unattractive? I don't know what is meant by 'looking too good' but I don't think you should ever discount your image as a physician or student physician. Pts would much prefer a well-dressed/well-groomed doctor over one who doesn't give 100%. Medicine is no different from any other job. Look your best at all times
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lulz are you 4 serious? is he unattractive? that's your best retort?

People get creeped out by the guy in a perfect suit, tie, shined shoes and slicked back hair. They think you're more engrossed in your own vanity than patient care. Focus on becoming a better doctor, not your tie knot and the latest shoe fashion. They won't tell you that to your face. When you're walking around clinic in a 5 grand suit and wearing a 25 grand watch while your main patient population is on Medicaid then you ARE making them uncomfortable.
 
ijn said:
lulz are you 4 serious? is he unattractive? that's your best retort?

People get creeped out by the guy in a perfect suit, tie, shined shoes and slicked back hair. They think you're more engrossed in your own vanity than patient care. Focus on becoming a better doctor, not your tie knot and the latest shoe fashion. They won't tell you that to your face. When you're walking around clinic in a 5 grand suit and wearing a 25 grand watch while your main patient population is on Medicaid then you ARE making them uncomfortable.
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If I ever slick back my hair and consider it "good-looking" I want to be put in my place immediately. Ugh.

I don't think a $5000 suit, a $25,000 or anything else is going to necessarily be good-looking. Maybe gawdy, but not always good-looking.
 
ijn said:
lulz are you 4 serious? is he unattractive? that's your best retort?

People get creeped out by the guy in a perfect suit, tie, shined shoes and slicked back hair. They think you're more engrossed in your own vanity than patient care. Focus on becoming a better doctor, not your tie knot and the latest shoe fashion. They won't tell you that to your face. When you're walking around clinic in a 5 grand suit and wearing a 25 grand watch while your main patient population is on Medicaid then you ARE making them uncomfortable.
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Where did you get the idea that "well-dressed and well groomed" means a $5000 suit/$25,000 watch? There is no need to spend that much to be dressed appropriately.

Or that "people get creeped out" by someone who is dressed well? You can be well dressed/groomed without being vain or sending those signals.

Or that we're talking about dressing inappropriately in relation to your environment?

There is no need to flaunt wealth, especially in the face of people who have none, but being groomed, clean and well dressed is always appropriate. In addition, just as you assume that a Medicaid population will be uncomfortable with an ostentatious display of wealth there is a segment of the population that will also be uncomfortable with their physician looking like they just rolled out of bed.
 
ijn said:
lulz are you 4 serious? is he unattractive? that's your best retort?

People get creeped out by the guy in a perfect suit, tie, shined shoes and slicked back hair. They think you're more engrossed in your own vanity than patient care. Focus on becoming a better doctor, not your tie knot and the latest shoe fashion. They won't tell you that to your face. When you're walking around clinic in a 5 grand suit and wearing a 25 grand watch while your main patient population is on Medicaid then you ARE making them uncomfortable.
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I've been gone a couple months, forgot who the trolls were, coming back pretty fast.
 
Bacchus said:
I'm glad when I googled that I felt great that I truly needed to google it, haha. +1 to the man card.
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yeah same here... thought it was some elitist fashion brand given the context of this thread. :laugh:
 
Just to follow up on this no nail polish issue... Has anyone else heard of this? I had a PA chew me out in front of an attending for wearing polish today (she was very rude!) My attending just shrugged it off and said he had never heard of that being an issue before. I did a quick pubmed search and couldn't find anything convincing which is in concurrence with Cochrane database which states there is no evidence that wearing nail polish I'm the OR is associated with increased risk of infections. It's really no big deal and I already took the polish off but I was just wondering what you guys have heard about this. Does your school have any policy against wearing polish when scrubbing in?
 
AvocadoLover said:
Just to follow up on this no nail polish issue... Has anyone else heard of this? I had a PA chew me out in front of an attending for wearing polish today (she was very rude!) My attending just shrugged it off and said he had never heard of that being an issue before. I did a quick pubmed search and couldn't find anything convincing which is in concurrence with Cochrane database which states there is no evidence that wearing nail polish I'm the OR is associated with increased risk of infections. It's really no big deal and I already took the polish off but I was just wondering what you guys have heard about this. Does your school have any policy against wearing polish when scrubbing in?
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Yep, no nail polish (and you're not supposed to wear fake nails, either...they can harbor bacteria) when scrubbing into a case is pretty much standard. The fact that a male attending didn't know is not surprising to me, since most men don't wear nail polish.
 
Both hospital systems that I've worked at allow nail polish as long as it's not chipped, but definitely no fake nails. That being said, as a student I would err on the side of no nail polish unless the female surgeons on your service wear it.
 
I'm looking around the OR right now, seems like most of the nurses and residents wear eyeliner and mascara but not much else cosmetics-wise. I never really paid attention to it until this question came up. None of them seem to have the heavy foundation or blush you see occasionally on other services. Might have something to do with it all melting into an pink and orange splotch on the inside of your mask over the course of a four hour procedure. Nail polish and fake nails are banned at my facility.

Pretty much the only time we judge female residents around the hospital is when they wear skirts that are extremely short, thigh high boots, six inch heels, or any combination of the above. I have had more than one instance of patients completely distrusting their resident on account of her looking like she should be at the dance rather than the med floors. Makeup, however, would have to be quite extreme to garner a wtf.

Just my 2 cents. I'm sure the culture varies widely based on hospital and area. We happen to be quite conservative.
 
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Mad Jack said:
I'm looking around the OR right now, seems like most of the nurses and residents wear eyeliner and mascara but not much else cosmetics-wise. I never really paid attention to it until this question came up. None of them seem to have the heavy foundation or blush you see occasionally on other services. Might have something to do with it all melting into an pink and orange splotch on the inside of your mask over the course of a four hour procedure. Nail polish and fake nails are banned at my facility.

Pretty much the only time we judge female residents around the hospital is when they wear skirts that are extremely short, thigh high boots, six inch heels, or any combination of the above. I have had more than one instance of patients completely distrusting their resident on account of her looking like she should be at the dance rather than the med floors. Makeup, however, would have to be quite extreme to garner a wtf.

Just my 2 cents. I'm sure the culture varies widely based on hospital and area. We happen to be quite conservative.
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Agreed. Keep those thigh-high boots for after work. 😉
 
I'm still confused about where you guys are working that you see women wearing thigh high boots to work? Short skirts are a common faux pas but I've absolutely never, in all my years, and practice in multiple states, seen a female physician wear thigh high boots. Unless there is some misunderstanding about what thigh high boots are( not the same as knee high boots). And I wear heels all the time but cannot imagine wearing more than a 4.5 inch one given the difficulty in walking fast in them.

Maybe I've been sheltered in my training and practice.
 
My school differs on the proper attire based on which hospital I'm at. One hospital has a strict protocol for surgery rotations that are sometimes laughably ridiculous. They don't allow makeup/jewelry/painted nails or nail polish. It goes so far as to require only black or white shoes while wearing scrubs. I had to stop wearing my normal scrub shoes (all 3) because they were bright green, brown or my favorite air jordans in red-pink. I had to go buy a pair of regular shoes to appease them for those 2 weeks. Every other hospital is different. It's not really about the school but the hospital dress code as far as I can tell. Nail polish (clear) works. Looking nice makes sense to myself, honestly. Some of my rotations required you wearing professional attire at ALL times during surgery if you weren't in the OR/OR floor. I didn't mine because I loved wearing suits (Suit and Tie ****). And it definitely helped because my attendings really appreciated how I dressed. And the best reason to wear a suit w/ jacket - if god forbid you get your white coat ruined, the hospital lets you wear the suit jacket so you're professional.
Dress to impress is what I always say. I've never had a patient not like my attire. Though it's sometimes embarrassing because they think I'm a physician...and I have to say "Nah, just a med student".
 
Appearance is a range and some things are clearly unacceptable (stinky, dirty) etc. Whereas some things may be perceived as taking too much time to be consistent with a hard working busy learner (extremely done up hair, makeup etc). Also, there are regional, institutional, departmental, and service specific cultures that play a role.

It is important to be clean, to be put together but don't let it take away fr your studying and learning.

As for the person comparing themselves to the chief who they felt looked like s***... That department felt the other person was the right person to promote as chief, they should be your standard of what is expected as the balance of appearance versus skill (tack in the fact that they have a greater workload though). This is not always true but usually. Also, remember that persons work load is far greater than yours...kinda unfair to be comparing their attention to their appearance to yours.

Good luck!
 
Don't forget the cases where they turn up the heat in the and you're holding up that limb for a few hours.... then you start to sweat and that powder and mascara start to drip and run... fun.
 
When I wasn't wearing makeup, everyone constantly commented that I looked like I didn't want to be there.

Since they control my grades, I am decked out like a peacock.

Of course it doesn't hurt that my surgery attending is hot, so I have ulterior motives... 😉
 
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