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The current convention for tying the hair is unfortunately very cumbersome for the surgeons to perform. The surgeons must secure long strands of hair, bundle them together with tape or rubber bands, and fold them over to repeat the process into a smaller bundle. Depending on how much hair needs to be moved, this can take about 10-12 minutes of time before the surgery. Using the operating room costs about $62 per minute(4), which means it costs up to $744 for just tying the hair! In addition to that, our product might be able to help in other hospital departments and industries outside of the hospital. With this information in mind, we made a list of the primary objectives we would like to achieve for the problem at hand.
Pre-Operation Surgical Hair Fastener
Disclaimer: Media on this website may contain images of blood and gore in a surgical setting
Background
In otolaryngological (head and neck) surgery, patients sometimes have the opportunity to request to keep their hair, even if incisions have to be made on the scalp to repair injuries like skull fractures. In order to preserve the hair, it must be securely tied up and bundled away from the incision site, as shown in the image to the right. This gives the surgeon better vision of the incision site and helps keep hair out of the opening during the operation. In addition to that, after the operation, the hair will be able to hide the suture line to help make post-operation life for the patient more seamless.
Example of current hair tying convention
Objectives
Reduce the time it takes to bundle and tie a patient's hair while maintaining a lasting hold
Be able to perform this task using only one person
Keep the patient's hair out of the surgical area during the operations
Complete objectives 1-3 while preserving the patient's hair for their post-operation recovery
With these objectives in mind, we came up with the following design:
Prototype Hair Fastener CAD Image of Hair Fastener
This design was inspired by wire harnessing technology(2,3), but was modified with the primary purpose of wrapping surgical patients' hair. We included features that make it easier to use with one hand holding the device, and another hand holding the patients' hair, which can be seen in further detail in the Final Design page. In the GIFs below, you can see the current convention performed by the sponsor, Dr. David Hom, on the left, while on the right, we have demonstrated the speed of bundling hair using our product.
Comparison: Conventional Method (Left) vs. Our Product (Right) for one hair bundle
Conventional Method: 32 seconds Our Product: 15 seconds
One thing that is important to notice is in the beginning of the conventional method's technique, the surgeon is required to twist the hair to reduce the diameter of the bundle as much as they can. This helps keep the bundles compact so that the tape has the maximum contact area with the hair and not air in the bundle. This part of the process takes a significant amount of time for the conventional method, but for our product, the hair bundle is tightened as the product is being used, combining the act of twisting and taping. In addition to that, our product only requires one person to complete the process, whereas the conventional method takes two. In fiscal terms, this cuts out the cost of an extra person performing the preparation process. This person can then help in other areas, making the entire preparation process more time and cost efficient. We also believe that with continued use, the bundling process will become faster due to becoming comfortable with the device, cutting the time it takes to bundle hair by well over 50% of the conventional method.
Device Simulation
In the videos above, you can see the demonstration of our device on a simulated patient. In the first video, we use the device to secure the hair on one side of the injury, while in the second video, we finish the hair securing process by taping down the hair on the back of the head in a similar fashion to the current convention. Although the device isn't being used in a rotational manner, having a tape dispensing device that can cut the tape to the length needed helps this process become easier than having to unroll a roll of tape and cut it by hand.
Impact on Society
Although designed for head and neck surgery, the time our product will save is important across all medical departments involving coronal incisions or sutures. In the emergency room and in emergency situations, 10 seconds saved can mean the difference between life and death. As mentioned before, our prototype can reduce the time it takes to bundle the hair by at least 50%. All that needs to be done is the grouping of the hair, and the product can be used to tie and keep the hair out of the way of the suture area on the head. This also makes the whole preparation process more efficient, since the medical staff that would usually assist in securing the hair can work on other preparation processes or prep other patients.
In addition to helping pre-operation, our product will be able to make the post-operation transition smoother. Retaining a patient's hair will provide a space where the suture lines on the scalp will be hidden. This helps prevent patients from being reminded of the reason they had the surgery in the first place, which can greatly improve the patient's mental health after they've had an operation done.
Outside of medicine, we believe our product will be useful for other industries. In the hair-care industry, it can be tedious to perform similar processes to bundle and move hair out of the way, so using our product could make hair appointments more efficient for salon and barber shop workers. Also, since our product may be used with various types of tape, it is able to perform well in wire management and wire harnessing as well. Below, you can see how it was able to continuously wrap a charging cable with several tears in it with electrical tape to cover the wires.
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