Wet versus dry shaving

Only one observational study compared wet and
dry shaving. The comparisons also included
electrical clipping the evening prior to, or the day
of surgery. The results of this study favoured the
use of electrical clipping the evening before
surgery, or electrical clipping the evening before

surgery with a dry razor shave the day of
surgery. The outcome of interest in this study
was incidence of deep wound infection.There
was no statistically significant difference found
between the wet and dry razor blade shave
groups. However, the study design lacked
control or randomisation, hence the results
cannot be used to generate recommendations
for practice.


Costs
Costs related to preoperative hair removal have
been described in relation to differences in
infection rates, and impact on length of stay. In
a study of 1,013 patients, the authors projected
a saving of 655.8 days associated with the use
of clippers the morning of surgery for this group
of patients. Associated with this potential
reduction in length of stay was a cost saving
projection of US $274,000 per 1,000 patients
treated. Other studies anecdotally reported cost
comparisons between wet razor shaves and
depilatory creams, finding the direct costs
associated with creams to be higher. However,
this costing was limited, covering only minimal
direct costs rather than the full range of direct
and indirect costs of shaving items compared
with the cost of the depilatory cream.