Economies of Intraoperative Drawing: Blood, an Autologous Skin Marker

material and on the other side – when used during the operation – to the fact that the material has to be specially sterilized and compatible for the use on humans. Preoperative and intraoperative marking is an important point in skin surgery. Preoperative drawing can be effectuated in a nonsterile manner and with any skin marker which is not bearing the risk of tattooing. Several authors have underlined the risk of cross-infections of felt-tipped marker pens as well as the limited sterility under ink-marked epidermis [1–3] . On the other hand, intraoperative drawing needs special markers where the color does not bear the risk of tattooing; it should not be allergenic or irritating, and it should be sterile. Concerning sterility one might try to resterilize the used markers, which is not ideal; further, the marking pens withstand only 1 or 2 sterilizing cycles before drying out. Further sterilization of used skin marker pens is not recommended by the manufacturer and therefore bears a potential risk in any court case. Each marker costs about 3 USD and is worth saving.