At Tufts Medical Center, a variety of adhesive tapes are used to shut the eyes during anesthesia, including 3MTM TegadermTM and the Sharn Anesthesia Transpore®, with no preference for one or the other. While all of these products decrease the risk of corneal abrasion, none of these products have been shown to be superior to the others in terms of eyelid irritation. According to Sharn Anesthesia, The [Transpore®] adhesive is light enough to reduce damage to the outer eye (3). However, there is no scientific evidence to support this claim. All the investigators know is that the Transpore is coated with a medical grade, pressure-sensitive acrylic adhesive and that there are no phthalates, it is latex free and silicone free.
The purpose of this study is to compare the rate of eyelid erythema after anesthesia with the use of TegadermTM vs. the Transpore®. Our null hypothesis is that the rate of erythema will be similar between the two groups given there is no evidence currently to suggest otherwise