06/11/2025
Radiation Gear in the OR: When Protection Becomes the Risk
By Mendy Perdew
Wardrobe Consultant for High-Performance Professionals
Abstract
Radiation protection in the operating room is essential—but when protective gear itself causes harm, the risk-benefit equation must be reexamined. This commentary explores the overlooked physical toll of lead garments on surgeons, especially in high-exposure specialties such as orthopedics, trauma, and interventional radiology. With prolonged static use, poor fit, and excessive weight, standard radiation PPE contributes to chronic musculoskeletal injuries and shortened careers. The author draws from field experience outfitting high-performance professionals, calling for ergonomic redesign, inclusive sizing, and surgeon-centered input in protective equipment development. The goal is not comfort for its own sake, but sustainability and safety in the surgical workforce.
⸻
The Hidden Weight of Protection
Every surgeon understands the importance of shielding themselves from radiation. Lead aprons. Thyroid shields. Eye protection. These tools are non-negotiable safeguards in the operating room.
Yet, for many, the very gear designed to protect them is also quietly harming them.
In hospitals across the country, radiation protection garments are often heavy, outdated, and poorly fitted. Surgeons in high-radiation fields may wear these lead-based layers for hours at a time—motionless, under tension, and in positions that were never designed with long-term spinal health in mind. The result is not just discomfort, but damage.
This isn’t just a gear issue. It’s a workforce health issue.
⸻
What Surgeons Are Saying
Over years of consulting with medical professionals, I’ve heard the same refrains:
“It’s not the cases that wear me down. It’s the gear.”
“My neck, back, and hips are more beat up than my patients’ sometimes.”
“This thing was made for someone twice my size, and no one seems to care.”
Lead aprons typically weigh 15 to 25 pounds. They are not ergonomically suited to prolonged standing, they lack flexibility for smaller frames—especially women and lean men—and they are designed with only radiation safety in mind, not musculoskeletal preservation.
The long-term cost is clear:
• Herniated discs
• Lumbar degeneration
• Chronic neck and shoulder strain
• Missed OR days due to injury
• Early retirement from surgical careers
We would never expect an elite athlete to perform in shoes that collapse their arches. So why do we ask surgeons to operate in gear that strains their spines?
⸻
Surgeons Are Precision Athletes
This is not a comfort complaint. It is a safety imperative.
A surgeon in physical pain is more vulnerable to fatigue, distraction, and error. Sustained discomfort leads to burnout. Long-term injury can mean reduced case volume, permanent disability, or leaving the profession altogether.
Those designing this gear are not standing in a spine case for 10 to 12 hours. Surgeons are—and their bodies deserve the same degree of design consideration we give to surgical instruments and implant materials.
⸻
Designing with Precision: What Needs to Change
We don’t need luxury. We need logic.
• Lightweight alternatives with equivalent radiation shielding
• Ergonomic PPE designed for static endurance, not just mobility
• Size-inclusive designs that reflect the actual range of surgeon body types
• Surgeon input from the beginning—not post-market
The absence of these changes isn’t benign. It’s a structural oversight that disproportionately affects smaller-framed providers and high-volume surgical specialists.
This is a modifiable risk factor within our control. Ignoring it isn’t just outdated—it’s negligent.
⸻
Redefining What We Call “Protection”
It is time to challenge our assumptions about what protection means.
Protecting surgeons from radiation at the expense of their spine is not protection.
Asking our most skilled providers to quietly endure preventable pain is not resilience—it’s attrition.
And allowing outdated designs to harm a generation of surgeons is not acceptable.
We must build better. Surgeons deserve protection that doesn’t compromise their longevity or their lives.
Not someday. Now.
