Application of Henna as a Durable Skin Marker in Orthopedic Surgery

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) CA), 2020-09, Vol.12 (9), p.e10631-e10631
• Main Authors: Mohindra, Mukul, Meena, Amit
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Back surgery; Blood vessels; Bone surgery; Infections; Orthopedics; Patients; Radiation therapy; Skin; Ultrasonic imaging; Wire
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.10631

BackgroundMany orthopedic procedures require skin marking well before surgery. Marks made with most conventional marking pens fade with vigorous skin preparation required before orthopedic procedures, whereas marks with henna may safely last almost up to three weeks. Thereby, we intend to describe applications of henna, a readily available, cost-effective material, as a durable skin marker for various indications in orthopedics.MethodsA total of 120 patients with varied indications for skin marking were randomized into two equal-sized groups of 60 each. Group A patients were marked with henna and group B patients with a permanent skin marker before the intended surgery. All patients had a routine pre-operative bath one day before surgery and vigorous skin preparation using chlorhexidine and ethanol-based scrubs just before surgery in the operating room. The two markers were compared for the following variables: photographic record to determine fading of the mark after scrubbing, in terms of successful execution of the procedure, patients’ acceptability of the mark, any allergy or infection, and final time of disappearance of the mark.ResultsMarking with henna was clearly visible during all but one surgical procedure even after vigorous pre-operative skin preparation, thereby ensuring minimal use of fluoroscopy in henna-marked patients. The fading of the mark and use of fluoroscopy was significantly low in group A (p