A small number of  patients who have visited my office have commented on the fact that I do not wear a white lab when seeing patients. 

Why not?  Because besides being hot stuffy uncomfortable and a stodgy relic of the past……. lab coats are a serious threat to your health!

But first a little history on the lab coat.  Lab coats were introduced into the medical world around the turn of the twentieth century.  Prior to this time white laboratory coats were used in the fields of laboratory science,  presumably to protect the scientists clothing from whatever dangerous or dirty things they were working with.

The medical establishment adopted the labcoat at the beginning of the 20th century in an effort to distinguish, “scientific medical practice” from the various forms of “quackery” being used at the time.  The various forms of “quackery” being used at that time  included legitimate forms of medicine such as homeopathy and herbalism which are still being used today, with great success I might add.    

This tradition of wearing white coats in western allopathic medicine gained strong credence throughout the twentieth century, with medical schools even having a white coat ceremony to symbolize a young students acceptance into the world of medical practice.

Medical students, residents, surgeon, etc.  wear the lab coat day in and day out with patients and at the end of a long day hang the coat up, only to turn around the next day put on the white coat and do it all over again. 

Let me ask you a question how many times a week do you think most doctors wash their lab coat?  Two, three, four at most?  Certainly not every day.

With the recent epidemic outbreak of antibiotic resistant staph bacteria, otherwise known as MRSA, these lab coats( and to a lesser extent neckties) have become veritable breeding grounds for the collection and transmission of infection. 

So the next time you go to visit your acupuncturist, your chiropractor, or other alternative medical practitioner and they are dressed neatly and professionally sans lab coat.  Give them a knowing wink and thank them for keeping your health in mind.