In eye surgery, eye drapes are used to separate and protect the eye area during
surgical operations and medical tests. They are often made of non-woven fabrics
made of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) film. They are sterile to prevent
contact with unsterile surfaces and to maintain the sterility of surrounding surfaces
and the medical equipment. The present work investigates the electrostatic charges
(ESC) generated on the surface of the eye drapes and doctor gown during surgery
when they touch each other.
The experiments in the present work showed that it was found that at dry contact,
the generated ESC significantly increased when the load increased. Because human
skin of the patient is good conductor, ESC generated on eye drape was lower than
that observed for doctor gown. Sliding of the gown on eye drape showed higher
intensity of ESC compared to contact/separation. It was observed that water wet
surfaces exhibited higher ESC values in both contact/separation and sliding
accumulated on the surface of eye drape. As result of that, an electric field may be
generated and disturb the performance of the electronic appliances used in surgery.
Finally, it is recommended to replace latex gloves by PE ones.