Surgical pearl: use of sterile glove finger as a surgical drain☆

I n most dermatologic surgery, hematomas and infection can be avoided by careful patient selection, hemostatic control, and meticulous surgical technique. On rare occasions, postoperative hematomas or abscesses require drainage. Herein, we describe an alternative to the Penrose drain commonly used in such situations. Penrose1 first reported placing a common rubber condom to drain excess fluid collection after abdominal surgery. Today, with millions used yearly, the Penrose drain is the most widely used drain.2 Whereas the cost of the Penrose drain is not prohibitive, it is not routinely used by all dermatologic surgeons nor kept in supply in the office. However, all dermatology offices do have sterile surgical gloves that can be modified and used as a surgical drain. To make this drain, first cut the appropriate length finger from a nonpowdered, sterile glove (Fig 1). This “finger” can then be fenestrated to allow greater drainage along the lateral aspects of the wound that need fluid removal (Fig 2). The fenestrations are discarded, and the drain is placed within the wound bed with the exposed portion allowed to drain inferiorly. The length of drain required will dictate the size of glove needed and which digit to remove from the body of the