Scrubs used to be white — the
color of cleanliness. Then in the early 20th century, one influential doctor
switched to green because he thought it would be easier on a surgeon’s eyes, according
to an article in a 1998 issue of Today’s Surgical Nurse. Although it is hard to
confirm whether green scrubs became popular for this reason, green may be
especially well-suited to help doctors see better in the operating room because
it is the opposite of red on the color wheel.
Green could help physicians see
better for two reasons. First, looking at blue or green can refresh a doctor’s
vision of red things, including the bloody innards of a patient during surgery.
The brain interprets colors relative to each other. If a surgeon stares at
something that’s red and pink, he becomes desensitized to it. The red signal in
the brain actually fades, which could make it harder to see the nuances of the
human body. Looking at something green from time to time can keep someone’s
eyes more sensitive to variations in red, according to John Werner, a
psychologist who studies vision at the University
of California, Davis.
Second, such deep focus on red, red,
red can lead to distracting green illusions on white surfaces. These funky
green ghosts could appear if a doctor shifts his gaze from reddish body tissue
to something white, like a surgical drape or an anesthesiologist’s alabaster
outfit. A green illusion of the patient’s red insides may appear on the white
background. (You can try out this “after effect” illusion yourself.) The
distracting image would follow the surgeon’s gaze wherever he looks, similar to
the floating spots we see after a camera flash.
The phenomenon occurs because
white light contains all the colors of the rainbow, including both red and
green. But the red pathway is still tired out, so the red versus green pathway
in the brain signals “green.”
However, if a doctor looks at
green or blue scrubs instead of white ones, these disturbing ghosts will blend
right in and not become a distraction, according to Paola Bressan, who
researches visual illusions at the University
of Padova in Italy.
So, although doctors trot down
the street these days in a rainbow of patterned and colored scrubs, green may
be a doctor’s best bet.
