HOLY MASKS ARE PLACEBOS:

Does Evidence Based Medicine Support the Effectiveness of Surgical Facemasks in Preventing Postoperative Wound Infections in Elective Surgery?

Results: No significance difference in the incidence of postoperative wound infection was observed between masks group and groups operated with no masks (1.34, 95% CI, 0.58-3.07). There was no increase in infection rate in 1980 when masks were discarded. In fact there was significant decrease in infection rate (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: From the limited randomized trials it is still not clear that whether wearing surgical face masks harms or benefit the patients undergoing elective surgery.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20524498/

Moar on masks, from CHINESE!

Surgical masks as source of bacterial

contamination during operative procedures

Liu Zhiqing , Chang Yongyun , Chu Wenxiang, Yan Mengning,

Mao Yuanqing, Zhu Zhenan, Wu Haishan, Zhao Jie, Dai Kerong,

Li Huiwu , Liu Fengxiang , Zhai Zanjing

Shanghai Key Laboratory of Orthopaedic Implants, Department of Orthopaedics, Ninth People’s

Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200011, People’s Republic of

China

Received 12 May 2018; received in revised form 5 June 2018; accepted 8 June 2018

Available online 27 June 2018

These results

demonstrated that the contamination of the SM surface

worsens with wearing time extension.

https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/287009/1-s2.0-S2214031X18X00035/1-s2.0-S2214031X18300809/main.pdf?X-Amz-Date=20200627T194617Z&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Signature=65c5d7605bdf48f661fde8173f078ef8ebb194669a8957621113d4d015d32690&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAQ3PHCVTYYWIU2AHH%2F20200627%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&type=client&tid=prr-93bd64a2-b4ce-46b4-9271-f5bb33a31dad&sid=fa8603b25cd3e941745933c0bbbe74ab2aafgxrqa&pii=S2214031X18300809&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEFMaCXVzLWVhc3QtMSJHMEUCIQDO6QZIqWHcXnLP7nr18M5XKFt%2FnoUNXjrrObLJaMmOkgIgRG7uhvuSFGEBtjzu8k65lIoXuldvAG8cngcQNj3mqk4qvQMI3P%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FARADGgwwNTkwMDM1NDY4NjUiDJazwJWc%2Bht0wX83XyqRA959yfmFoVWxTVYbOyOu8emzmF5YyMNIIbsmWyr3tP2XOOHucH4KVL7aNRnfryZ41OzCjxEbbFi3SeJyjuRuaDBrAxzaVl3Yl9u0yic5z6FZIK28%2BAMbZkupA69MrjjsLNncNSwz%2FvYjbO77DnpvCkO4D17ZLNipQi9IPYiBa9HC8v3%2B0q5zVY%2F12cn4lB8ppdgX%2FrtqORUejRmYpwTcosd5MiAL%2FO3V%2BzYL52MXGttTxVKDhEY3KzO06ksP8z7d15fmdMtU2O6V3BYhueyGG28q6fOuhzVOj4S8jpj3ekti9ymi6njKJEbjktUL3Xs2LyYL96Dc1ELlM8pq3rA3ELTg533g8JTrOvFm94BsYroXhezLo0C6Vi4BOyOkKCPXxJxGpbB4lrCVnF9eR7GmGtwyGC6sb8ZNJ5jSe6EDJWAImbXN%2FLYgWC78Z9qUADWoFzCQb%2B31JeswAe0CaRWXwIZH%2Bu1YzX9Cf5yJK%2B%2FkqHh7Dar88AgrynzB0pReV3MaABVjEH30WvqrZJjTSWnKen2KMMGr3vcFOusBVgwZgX2C31EFWi8FZLL%2BYlZbgps5mg7%2BhSfezp5P3jQyY34JQcDJ93K2k3eq5DmXI%2BJtLD2tHs57XbYYYjt3c6jCH2dONDRqyyDOWD2JmBMPcm0z8nwFyL43arqB1mCE9I1j64MSieFp2HELwV1QZY1u4OMRfqtRFxHrkyfn0JtMdIa%2FR21o5z6QHE9dzKmTkx%2BXtQhKSnrh2fpDuWgMeNRkg5S%2BVSyoQSg6QYCsDYPnIHtR%2B84VeSOnmOizYSjG%2BHjkoHOZwNGKtoIl1MIdxoWdhQYW9%2FEHh%2B6dFMktB%2FHBosBA9LeiUbK3QA%3D%3D&host=68042c943591013ac2b2430a89b270f6af2c76d8dfd086a07176afe7c76c2c61&X-Amz-Expires=300&hash=e65797af900f23aad3961a267df3a5aad872be258dd20a60d77d693d2b889829