Comparison of bacterial counts in glove juice of surgeons wearing smooth band rings versus those without rings

Removal of rings is recommended before surgeons aseptically prepare for surgical procedures. This study was undertaken to determine whether there is a difference between bacterial counts under surgical gloves of ring wearers compared with nonring wearers after proper aseptic hand preparation and 3 hours of wear. Twenty volunteer veterinary medical students were divided into 2 groups: One group wore a smooth ring band (without projections or mounted stones) on their ring finger, and the other group did not wear a ring. A modified glove juice method was used to obtain bacterial counts (colony-forming units/mL) inside surgically gloved hands prior to a proper aseptic hand preparation and 3 hours after hand preparation and wear. Each of the pre- and postsurgical glove juice samples were inoculated onto Letheen agar plates, which were incubated aerobically under atmospheric conditions for 48 hours at 35°C. Gloves were tested for perforations using a water pressure test. No differences, or significant change, in bacterial counts were found before or after surgery between all ring hands and nonring hands or between ring and nonring hands for ringed participants. No differences in bacterial counts were found within perforated versus nonperforated gloves. There is no compelling evidence to suggest that surgeons wearing rings possess higher bacterial counts under their gloves during surgery.