Editorial Commentary : “Which Skin Preparation Do You Prefer Doctor?” Turns Out It Does Not Matter! Instead, Focus on Minimizing the Surgical Time to Reduce Contamination in Arthroscopic Cuff Repair

Abstract

Deep infection after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair surgery is a rare yet devastating complication. During everyday practice, we focus on techniques that will help to mitigate this, deploying techniques such as different skin preparations in the hope of minimizing contamination at the time of surgery. It turns out, however, that this is less important than how long it takes us to complete the surgery and how long the sutures are exposed. Although skin preparation is therefore important, recent literature suggests that we should turn our attention to employing techniques that will reduce our surgical time.