☠️ 💛 ♎️ What will happen to your skin from constant wearing gloves 🙍🏻 ⛹🏾 😪

Nitrile gloves. There are all colors of the rainbow, but very rarely white to differ from latex.

In some regions of Russia, in addition to the mandatory wearing of masks , gloves will also be required . For absence promised to fine .

In this place, I would be glad that the developments of our cozy laboratory will come in handy, but no. We are already heavily loaded with the production of media gels for the whole country, and now dermatitis will still be added. Yes, unfortunately, if you wear gloves for a long time, then about one in four of you will get contact or allergic dermatitis from wearing them, and somewhere around 20% will get allergies to latex and various polymer components.

Therefore, we will see how to choose them correctly, how to wear them, and how to smear our hands, if that. Latex, for example, is a rather problematic option. And also, most likely, gloves do not help as much as it might seem, and I will talk about this too. WHO, for example, does not recommend .

With what to climb into a transformer, and with what into a patient

The manufacture of gloves as a personal protective equipment begins with TK. If you do not want to cut off your fingers when cutting meat - buy chain mail gloves. At the same time, you should not climb into the transformer with them, on the contrary, thick rubber is required - an insulator.

In medicine and related fields, the main goal of gloves is to isolate your skin from potentially contaminated body fluids. Drooling, snot, sputum lumps, pus and other mucus. This also works in the opposite direction - we will not transfer anything into a clean wound from the hands of a doctor. Additionally, the requirements for ease of use. Imagine working with the thinnest tools in the patient’s tooth canal in thick gloves.

Finally, we need gloves not to injure the hands of the wearer and to be safe during prolonged use. The same dentists practically do not remove them eight hours a day, five days a week, changing them only between patients. And here the problems associated with the reaction of the skin to the material begin.

Should the skin “breathe”?

Formally, no. We are not amphibians, and the permeability of our skin is clearly insufficient to provide the body with oxygen. In vain did they grow lungs? Nevertheless, there are studies that prove that atmospheric oxygen also penetrates through the skin with a thickness of more than 700 microns. Theoretically, normal healthy skin calmly compensates for the lack of external oxygen by a developed network of capillaries.

We are also sweating. This is normal. Firstly, this is an additional way to get rid of toxic metabolic products in addition to the kidneys. Secondly, a way not to die when overheating. Different parts of the body have different amounts of sweat glands. We have two varieties of these glands: apocrine and eccrine.

Apocrine ones are located mainly in the armpits, perineum and on the face. They are not particularly involved in thermoregulation.

Eccrine is everywhere except the penis, labia minora and the red border of the lips. On the palms, feet and face, there are especially many of them. Their total weight is approximately equivalent to a whole kidney, and in a day they can generate up to ten liters of sweat. In this case, the pH of the secretion is acidic.

Now we take and put on rubber gloves for these extra “kidneys”. It is good if the temperature is relatively comfortable. In the heat, the space between the glove and the skin of the hand will quickly begin to fill up with the secret of sweat glands to the joy of bacteria. Heat, damp, and edible organic matter. All this is called the interesting term “ glove juice.”". The one that gets on your pizza when breaking through the gloves in a restaurant. Therefore, pizza, dumplings and bread must be prepared according to sanitary requirements with bare hands. Well, it’s worth remembering that after heat treatment at 100 and above degrees nothing will survive there.

Discharge under the gloves and contamination of the gloves means that they must be changed frequently. Contamination of the gloves also means that they need to be changed often - otherwise you can automatically adjust glasses or touch your nose. And that's it:

Therefore, doctors change gloves after each patient and wash their hands. Ordinary people are likely to walk in the same pair, putting it on dirty hands. And here we come to the interesting effects that can be obtained from such prolonged wearing.

Glove dermatitis

Bacteria

There are several basic mechanisms for skin damage when wearing protective gloves. Initially, it all starts with maceration. This is the process of swelling of the upper layer of the epidermis from prolonged contact with the liquid. Have you ever been scrubbed at the spa? As a rule, before the procedure, you need to steam the skin well to loosen the horny scales. The maceration process itself is normal, if after that the skin restores its moisture back.

If you wear gloves on potentially dirty hands, you get a loose protective layer in combination with bacterial contamination. Escherichia coli and staphylococci from the nearest door handle will be delighted.

Toxic monomers, type IV hypersensitivity

The next problem is the material of the gloves, which is not at all chemical inert. In the production of any polymers, we conditionally take three buckets of monomer and half a bucket of activator, which will sew the monomer into a single polymer web with cross-linking. This is in theory. In practice, it is almost impossible to avoid a certain percentage of residual monomer, which "hangs" uncrosslinked between long polymer chains. If it is not so critical for a rubber gasket in a sewer pipe, if only it would not drip, then for medical devices the content of these substances is strictly normalized, since they have a direct irritating effect on the skin and mucous membranes. Acidic sweat promotes the diffusion of these substances from the material into the skin.

Typical substances that directly work as irritants and provoke inflammation:

Carbamates, they are urethanes, are monomers of polyurethanes.
TMTD, aka Tiuram. Stabilizer for the polymerization of rubber. At the same time, fungicide and kills rats if the doses are large.
Benzotriazoles.
Mercaptobenzenes.
Phenols.

Dermatitis develops according to a type IV hypersensitivity reaction. Symptoms appear slowly and can occur 48 hours after contact with an irritant. Usually manifested in the form of redness, severe itching, small vesicles.

Allergy to latex, type I hypersensitivity

Latex is a product of natural Brazilian Hevea juice and other rubbery plants. It can also be obtained from the same dandelion, but the economic feasibility is very doubtful. It is good for everyone - it is very tear-resistant, it allows you to make gloves with very high accuracy and small thickness. Just for those who have “not the same sensations” in nitrile.

Its key problem is a large number of proteins in the composition, which provoke allergic reactions. About 13 latex allergens, or heveins, are isolated. In the standard population, latex allergy occurs in 1-12% of the population, while in hospital workers it can reach up to 37.8%. Constant prolonged contact with latex proteins can cause sensitization and form an allergy to its proteins. And yes, after sensitization, allergic reactions will be not only on gloves, but also on latex condoms. If you are not lucky at all, you can get an asthma attack or anaphylactic shock, but this is unlikely.

How to treat dermatitis

We have an excellent laboratory for polymers and cool developments in transdermal transport of substances for skin restoration. Moreover, some of the products we produce are actually tons. For example, we create only ultrasound gel in the region of 90 tons per month. Other products were developed in terms of maximum efficiency on the principle of "spread and passed" through several applications. Unfortunately, the use of more expensive and complex components and synthesis technologies makes the product more expensive.

And now, remember, a couple of years ago I talked about our new developments in tissue regeneration? Well, their time has come. Our first hero is a rather universal and very effective gel "Intensive regeneration". To solve the problems with dermatitis in the case of our gel, it will be enough to rub a few drops into the clean skin of your hands after you return home. It is consumed extremely economically. It works great with various diaper rash, irritations and allergic dermatitis. We added high molecular weight hyaluronic acid to the base components, which normalizes skin moisture and its turgor. Plus there is D-panthenol, which can significantly accelerate the regeneration of microdamage caused by wearing gloves. To enhance anti-inflammatory activity, we also introduced pure beta-glucans, polysaccharides, which are naturally found in the components of the cell wall of algae and fungi. They have a pronounced anti-inflammatory effect with a pronouncedimmunomodulatory effect , and they also stimulate the synthesis of their own collagen . In general, this is an expensive healing option. It is not a fact that you will find it in a pharmacy near the house, so you should look at things such as eplan or any means with dexpanthenol (only desirable in the form of a gel, not a cream).

What gloves are better to buy?

It all depends on why you need these same gloves. The problem is that they are useful in the context of coronavirus only with a strict understanding of how to use them. Let's take an example. You touch the handrail, on which the saliva, mucus and other secretions of the infected person, and then scratch your nose, lips or eyes. You must admit that it makes no difference whether you do this with or without gloves. You’ll still bring the virus into the entrance gate.

Moreover, they create a false sense of security. Here, for example, is a fragment of the “Let them talk” program, where the virologist Alexander Lukashev clearly describes this problem. Wear gloves a little. You must have certain skills to work with them. Just crumple them after the subway rail and put it in your pocket will not work. Even you need to remove them correctly so as not to contaminate the hands, wrists and sleeves of the clothes.

The recommendation already mentioned on the WHO official website is pretty straightforward:

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However, there are some very conditional advantages from gloves.

Firstly, you can go to the supermarket or metro, feel everything, remove, throw it away and stay with clean hands. In this case, it is not necessary to rape the skin with aggressive sanitizers. Her unlike gloves feel sorry.

Secondly, the presence of a foreign body on the hands is something unusual and for many it will be a stop factor from unconscious touching the face. In this situation, the doctors who are accustomed to living in them are not lucky. They just don’t notice the gloves.

If everything is clear with the first plus, then the second actually says that more comfortable gloves are worse. They should be ugly, not very comfortable and all the time to remind about their existence. This process of forming a conditioned reflex “not to touch my face” reminds me very much of one of the not very humane old ways to wean a child from the habit of biting his nails when they applied a little hot pepper juice.

Polyethylene gloves. Cheap and practical. Take them.

Therefore, the optimal, in my opinion, solution would be cheap plastic gloves that look like bags on your hands. They are most often served complete with large burgers or put in a box of hair dye. Rustling, nasty and cheap. For now, at least. And they are so rarecause allergic reactions, which scientific journals even accept for publication descriptions of single clinical cases of dermatitis due to polyethylene.

Nitrile powder-free gloves

If you notice gloves, even when they completely fit the skin, then look towards nitrile or neoprene gloves. They are also hypoallergenic. Just try to get those that are certified for medical applications. They will have tight control over the content of monomers.

Neoprene is usually quite thick.

I do not recommend taking PVC (vinyl) gloves. They are cheap, but fragile and permeable to many organic substances.

Latex. Good for everyone, except for a fairly common allergy

Similarly, I do not recommend using latex if you have ever had an allergic reaction to it. If allergies have not been observed before - use, but remember that with prolonged wearing, you can earn sensitization to its proteins.

Still come across recommendations for wearing fabric gloves. In my subjective opinion, this is a bad idea. Yes, your hands will normally drain moisture, but at the same time you will collect all contaminated mucus and sputum from the handrail and door handles. Moreover, you obviously will not throw them away immediately after leaving the metro, but put them in your pocket, infecting your hands, sleeves, jacket fabric and everything around. This type of glove is clearly intended for household work and not for protection against infection.

What not to do

The most important thing, even if you do it for show, do not put gloves on dirty hands. Wash clean first. Any dirt on the hands will make a bacterial incubator out of the protective equipment.

It is also very important to understand that gloves are really disposable. If the masks can still be processed in the oven at 60 degrees, then the gloves begin to break down, micropores appear, plus the very toxic substances that we talked about are released.

I hope that the next step will not make it mandatory to wear shoe covers or any earplugs in public places.

PS If there is a mood, run into our telegram channel (@geltek_cosmetics). There we tell interesting things about the chronicles of our cozy laboratory.

What will happen to your skin from constant wearing gloves