Why Do Doctors Usually Wear Green or Blue Scrubs? Matt Soniak - Mental Floss
go to original April 9, 2022

Medical professionals can choose from a wide variety of scrubs with different colors and patterns. So why are plain blue and green ones so popular?

It used to be that doctors, especially those performing surgeries, didn’t even wear special work garments and simply operated in their regular clothes and with bare hands. The 1918 flu pandemic and the rise of antiseptic theory led first to the use of surgical masks and rubber gloves and, eventually, antiseptic drapes, gowns and caps in the operating room.

Early OR garments were white, which emphasized cleanliness but led to eyestrain and headaches for surgeons and their staff. Sometime in the mid-20th century, hospitals began to ditch white linens and switched to various shades of green, which made things easier for both the institutions and their surgeons.

For the hospitals, doing laundry was less of a headache. Ever try to wash blood out of something white? At best, you’re left with a green/brown discoloration. While white linens had to be frequently tossed and replaced (either because the discoloration was too bad or because frequent washing and bleaching destroyed the fabric), green scrubs have a bit of a longer lifespan.

For surgeons, operating was less of a literal headache. Green and greenish-blue surgical linens make looking at the inside of a human body easier on the eyes, since they’re opposite red on the color wheel.

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Bonus fact: Why are scrubs called "scrubs"? Again, cleanliness was the impetus. While today, it seems unfathomable for a surgeon to not wash his or her hands before operating, that wasn't always the case before the Spanish Flu hit. The widespread practice of washing one's hands thoroughly coincided with the time period when surgeons switched to specialized clothes for the operating room. As a result, doctors would put on their clean operating room clothes and then scrub their hands. The clothes were donned when they were "scrubbing in" for surgery, and therefore, the outfit became known as "scrubs." (Dan Lewis - Now I Know)

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