GENERAL INFORMATION

    Do I need them? What mag to get?

• While not necessary, they are nice to have. They can be helpful with thyroid/parathyroid, parotids, septorhinoplasties and open pediatric cases.

• Generally, 2.5X mag is more than enough for most cases. The weight of 2.5X loupes is not bad, but they start to get much heavier with 3.5+. Unless you are thinking about nerve anastomosis or microvascular surgery, anything more than a 2.5 is probably overkill.

    Having problems with the loupes?

• Nausea: if you are prone to motion sickness, wearing loupes for the first time can be a nauseating experience, particularly with high mag. Most people eventually get used to this, but using slower and less frequent head moves does help (and maybe a scopolamine patch).

• Lens fogging: This is caused by lens condensation from your heavy breathing. Couple options: get an anti-fog agent (any scuba dive shop) or place a piece of tape over the top of your mask so that your respirations vent out the sides and bottom of your mask instead of into your glasses.

• Nasal bridge and postauricular pain: Heavy glasses + long case = much pain. Pain on the nasal bridge can be decreased by either changing out the nose piece or adding some padding to the area. Pain around the ears may be from too narrow a frame, too short an ear piece or not enough padding. Make sure you try out the loupes before buying them.

• Sliding down your nose? If they are not secured in some way, they will creep down your nose throughout the case. There is a large assortment of different “strings” that can be attached to the ear piece to secure them in place, many of which also provide padding around the ear.

LOUPE MANUFACTURERS

• Designs for Vision

• Keeler

• Surgitel

• Zeiss

• Orascoptic (formerly Surgical Acuity)

• Sheer Vision

• Loupe Direct

• Vorotek