Wellington  - A New Zealand surgeon who blamed the alcoholic hand wash he used to scrub up after operations for failing a breathalyser test was convicted Friday of a drunk-driving charge, news reports said.

Ian Denholm, 53, head of orthopaedic surgery at Wairarapa Hospital, north of Wellington, said he had only two glasses of wine and blamed an extraordinary ability to absorb alcohol in the hand wash gel because of eczema for putting him over the limit.

Police said Denholm recorded 593 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath - over the legal limit of 400 mcg - when tested after being stopped in July last year.

His not guilty plea failed to wash with Judge Stephen Harrop in the Wellington District Court who fined him 500 New Zealand dollars (275 US dollars) and banned him from driving for six months.

But he postponed the ban until January 23 because Denholm is the on-call surgeon for his Wairarapa province over the Christmas-New Year summer holiday period and needs to drive in that time. (dpa)