He’s a wound care specialist. Not microsurgery. The type of surgery he does is at the homes of invalids requiring trimming away of dead / diseased tissue from healed / healing wounds, festering bedsores, etc.
He’s using a rechargeable medical headlight now that apparently, from his description, has two selectable LED’s / reflectors, one focused & one flood. He’s not happy with runtime, and was unaware of color temp and CRI even being a thing.
He prefers a helmet-type, around plus over-the-head, two-strap arrangement.
Suggesting warm through neutral color temp. High CRI is very important to see healthy red vs discolored, diseased tissue. Tight beam is not needed; a generous hotspot with some spill would be desirable.
No blinkies or complex UI needed. L>M>H or H>M>L, or even L>H or H>L. Programmable would be OK if menu is well hidden.
I’m suggestion an 18650, can take or leave on-board charging. He’s a smart guy, and can be trusted not to muggle LiIon charging or cell care.
I looked at the Paramtek database. A Streamlight headlight was the only one that came up fitting the base specs but, no info on color temp or CRI.
Even a generous hotspot is probably going to be problematic. A nice smooth flood is going to be better. He is sometimes going to be working at weird angles where he’s bent over and contorted and he’s not going to want to touch the headlight once he gets started to re-aim it.
I would recommend the armytek C2 pro Nichia. 4500k and high CRI. If he leaves it in the general UI it is a simple click on click off. Press and hold to scroll up through the modes all the way to the top and then it starts over again at the bottom. No blinkies in the general ui. Release at the lumin level you want. And memory so once he sets it where he wants it he doesn’t have to change it again.
Waterproof to 10 meters so he can sterilize it or wash it with whatever he wants to use.
He’s going to need to run it through his hospital. Anything used during surgery is a going to be subject to whatever certification and approval their policy calls for.
As far as I know the headlamp unit itself usually doesn’t have to be sterile, but the control unit must be disinfected before use since that’s something the surgeon might have to touch.
My dad’s hospital issued headlamp uses some well ventilated head lamp unit which you could not even disinfect as it would immediately short out the PCB, but the battery unit has 18650s in some IP68 sealed plastic shells (proprietary, ofc) and a IP68 control unit with flat metal touch buttons so it can be wiped with alcohol.
I think he’s still not allowed to touch it once he is dressed up, unless he wants to change gloves right after.
We were considering modding it (the LED sucks so badly he can barely tell shades of red apart), but using something not officially certified for this job could get you in trouble.
Hospitals have specific vendors they work with. A surgeon cannot deviate from equipment that is on the authorized list. I guarantee you there is not one product being discussed on BLF that is on that list.
If they are a licensed professional working on open wounds with any sort of legal basis, there will be (probably strict) regulations of which tools they are allowed to use, whether it’s hospital, private practice or home visits…
I would hope the doctor is aware of any regulations and rules that apply to his situation. All the OP was looking for is recommendations for a tool that is as he described. Once he has something, the wound doctor can decide whether he can use it or how to get it approved. Or maybe he just ignores all of that and uses the tool that he finds allows him to do what he needs to do… help people. Of course, maybe I am too much of a pragmatic scofflaw. I envision a headlamp with two LEDs one for spot and one for flood, simple UI. Maybe 4 levels, High CRI, Neutral white. But I can’t think of one.
Not really.
A surgeon in a surgical unit is going to be working at a comfortable standing height with a lot of bright overhead lights. And he’s going to need a very powerful spot light to look deep down into cavities because those cavities are now in the shadows.
This wound care doctor has none of those conditions or deep cavities and does not require the same light.
Where is this hypothetical surgeon working, is it in the United States or Cambodia?
Serious question.
Modern countries have strict guidelines as to what tools a surgeon can and cant use. Insurance companies have a say in what can and cant be used. Whereas surgeons in so called third world countries use whatever tools they can get their hands on.
The original poster failed to specify the necessary details to properly answer the question.
I think it was a useful intro for some, Nitecore and Fenix and dentistry are even mentioned, there were links and it stimulated the idea to start doing some searches for other discussions like this one, there seem to be a lot of them.
Currently the surgeon in question is using a medical headlamp, some of the issues with them are mentioned in that thread and other online discussions and more knowledge of the issue helps focus the suggestions.
