Risk of blood contact through surgical gloves in aesthetic procedures.

Evidence of glove perforation, and therefore blood contact, was evaluated in 100 consecutive pairs of gloves used in aesthetic surgical procedures. The surgeon (38.3%) was more likely than the assistant (22.5%) to have exposure. In only 15% of these cases were they aware of the exposure. The left index finger (44%) was the most common location of perforation and 29 of the 32 holes (90.6%) were in cases that lasted more than 2 hours.