Before 1914, all medical staff wore all-white uniforms, just like the white coats we usually see in hospitals. This can be seen from the oil paintings in medical books.

During World War I, however, military doctors discovered a problem:

After a long operation, when the vision from the deep red blood color to the white doctor's uniform, there will be temporary blindness or even can't see things, which leads to a lot of surgical accidents.

How does this work? Later, it was discovered that this phenomenon is called a "residual color complement image".

What is a "residual color complement image"?

When a person is always staring at one color and then looking at another place, the eyes in order to obtain their own balance will produce a complementary color as a relief. For example, red against green, blue against orange, yellow against purple, etc.

Does it have to do with the color of the surgical gown?

The blue or green surgical gown is designed to ease the eye strain of surgeons and nurses, allowing them to more accurately identify the red tissue and organs in the surgical area.

Not only the surgical gowns, but the walls of the operating room are also mostly this color.

Human tissues generally appear red due to blood supply, and the surgical site often appears red due to bleeding. Staring at red for a long time will cause visual fatigue, reduce sensitivity to red, and affect the operation and identification of fine surgery.

The best way to alleviate this is to look at a color that complements red, namely green or blue, according to the theory of "color blur".So the modern operating room became what it is today

Why are "white coats" white?

This is designed to protect patients. In fact, a long time ago, western doctors wore suits and top hats. Later, to protect their suits, they wore "grey coats" on the outside, so that blood, vomit, excrement, and urine would not be so harmful to their eyes, let alone dirty the suits inside.

However, it was later found that gray coats, because they were resistant to dirt, actually made doctors more bacteria and patients more susceptible to infection. So they went the opposite way, turning the dirtiest gray into the least dirty white. Hence the "white coat"!

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