Ohio Doctor Invents Pen Sanitizer

SARS-Cov-2 has made everyone germ-conscious and aware of high-touch surfaces, especially items commonly shared with others like community pens. These writing instruments are frequently handled by anyone that comes into a business where signing is required like doctor and dental offices. Brian Wind, an Ohio ophthalmologist surgeon, recently invented a pen sanitizer to solve this issue, The Repository reports.

Wind, who specializes in cataract and laser vision eye surgery and is president of The Eye Clinic, invented the world’s first and only touchless pen sanitizer called Steri-White. “It uses UV-C germicidal LED light rays to kill pathogens causing bacterial and viral infections,” according to The Repository.

Wind said that he had already been working on this invention for 10 years. “I’d noticed my pediatrician colleagues had two waiting rooms; one for sick patients and one for well visits, which is a great idea. But they all were using the same pens,” Wind said. “I knew there had to be a better way.”

The Steri-White device is about 10 inches tall, 11 inches wide, five inches deep and can hold 14 pens. The devices are expected to last five years, according to Wind. The Louis A. Stokes Cleveland VA laboratory tested Steri-White and found it to be 99.9% effective at killing bacteria and viruses on writing instruments including MRSA, E.coli, norovirus and H. influenzae, and the test results were published in the American Journal of Infection Control in August 2019.

Wind is now working on a device to sterilize surgical markers, which are used by surgeons to write on skin and body parts prior to operations.