Orthopaedic surgery is a labor demanding branch of medicine historically dominated by men. Malaysia, with a mere 10% representation, is ranked as the third ASEAN country with the greatest number of female orthopaedic surgeons. This review aims to identify the magnitude, and the associated factors affecting the glaring disparity in the representation of female surgeons in various aspects of the orthopaedic surgery. Relevant articles were searched through PubMed, Google Scholar and Science Direct to extract human studies of equality aspects of female orthopaedic surgeons. Studies were selected if (a) compared the male and female orthopaedic surgeon in any aspect, (b)used female orthopaedic surgeons as sample/patients and (c) are primary studies. Disparity starts early, as less female medical students expressing interest to pursue orthopaedic surgery as a career. The number of female surgeons’ undergoing residency is greatly uneven, with males outnumbering females at each different year. Registered female orthopaedic surgeons also receive lower financial compensation for their services in contrast to male counterparts. In the academic field, there is a disparity of female surgeon authors that can be found in literature and as keynote speakers. The barriers for professional growth in female surgeons were identified included male privilege mindset, constraint communications and unequal support. Existence of work place harassment both in the verbal or physical form frequently haunts the female surgeon. Recently, spousal support has been identified important driving force for professional growth. In conclusion, awareness of the barriers that female orthopaedic surgeons face their careers is the first step to advocating for women this professional field. Programs designed to advocate early interest to participation, and to remove barriers to professional advancement are steps to bridge the disparity gap.

We report a case of acute compartment syndrome of the forearm in a 51-year-old man with open fracture distal third radius (Gustilo I). Decompressive fasciotomy was performed promptly. Complete progressive closure of the wound without split-thickness skin grafting was achieved using a shoe-lace technique: silastic vessel loop were interlaced held together with skin staplers placed at the edge of the fasciotomy wound and were then tightened daily. Delayed primary closure of the fasciotomy wound was performed after 8 days post fasciotomy with complete opposition of skin edges without tension. Shoelace closure is a good option for atraumatic fasciotomy wound closure with good cosmesis result.