Disposable gloves make your work safer and more comfortable

Areas of application for disposable gloves

If you work with patients or people in need of care, latex gloves (or nitrile gloves if you are allergic to latex) protect both you and the people you are treating from infection. When working on patients, you can transfer pathological germs from the patient's body to your own skin unnoticed, particularly via smear infections, which can penetrate the skin via the smallest damage and trigger an infection. However, you as the practitioner can also transfer germs from one patient to the next without disposable gloves, which is why the use of disposable gloves is essential for the best hygiene conditions.

The use of disposable gloves is also essential for cosmetic treatments on the face and body of your customers. This applies all the more if you are carrying out treatments that may result in blood leakage, such as microblading.

If you come into contact with chemicals during your work, latex gloves in particular will reliably protect you from direct skin contact with harmful substances that can attack or burn your skin.

If you are working in a laboratory, the substance to be analysed must not come into contact with impurities such as skin particles or microorganisms that occur naturally on the skin, as these could falsify the results. By using disposable gloves, you effectively avoid this problem and can concentrate fully on your work.

Properties, sterility and correct use of disposable gloves

Properties

To provide you with optimum support in your work, disposable gloves should be characterised by several properties:

• high flexibility
• Comfortable to wear, good fit and high level of comfort
• Tear resistance and stability while maintaining dexterity and mobility
• Impermeability to viruses and bacteria
• Resistance to chemicals
• Sterility, if required

These criteria are met by latex gloves and nitrile gloves, so you are making a good choice with these disposable gloves.

Sterile and low-germ gloves

You can purchase two different qualities of disposable gloves for the medical and cosmetic sector: Sterile gloves on the one hand and low-germ gloves on the other. Sterile disposable gloves must be absolutely sterile as soon as they are removed from the packaging in order to be labelled as such. Only sterile gloves may be used for operations, inserting a urinary catheter and other procedures.

Low-germ protective gloves, on the other hand, are not subject to any regulations regarding the maximum permissible limit of microorganisms on the surface of the material. The term low-germ does not guarantee that these disposable gloves are free from pathogenic germs. This type of glove is therefore particularly suitable for protecting your own health, as it prevents you from coming into contact with the patient's body fluids and infectious wound secretions.

Powdered gloves

Powdered latex gloves offer you the advantage that you can easily put them on even with wet hands. However, the powder increases the risk of an allergic reaction, which is why you must not use them in the medical field. The powder can also leave marks on your or your patients' clothing.

The correct use of protective gloves

• Make sure your fingernails are cut short. Remove rings and other hand jewellery to avoid damaging the disposable gloves.
• Disinfect your hands. To do this, rub an alcohol-based hand sanitiser into your skin for 15 to 30 seconds and allow it to dry completely.
• Pull one of the disposable gloves loosely over your fingers. Slide the thumb of your other hand into the glove along the palm of your hand.
• Now grasp the glove between your thumb and the remaining fingers of your other hand. Pull gently towards the crook of your elbow until the correct fit is achieved.
• Avoid overstretching the material.

Nitrile gloves

This substance is a copolymer made from rubber. It consists of several components, the majority of which is acrylonitrile. It becomes elastic when it cools, which means that potentially allergenic plasticisers do not need to be added. Disposable gloves made from this material are comfortable to wear, resistant to tears and provide reliable protection against numerous substances. They do not need to be powdered as their very smooth surface makes them easy to put on and take off, even with wet hands. Thanks to their particularly thin texture, your sense of touch is not impaired, which is extremely important when working on patients and in the laboratory. Nitrile gloves fit snugly against the skin, allowing you to carry out even delicate work without being disturbed.

As they are completely latex-free, you can also use nitrile gloves if you suffer from a latex allergy. Viruses cannot penetrate nitrile gloves. These gloves are therefore particularly suitable if you work in a laboratory or in the medical sector, e.g. a clinic, quarantine centre or care facility.

These protective gloves also have the advantage that they glide easily on the skin, even with wet hands, and can therefore be put on without any problems.

Protective gloves made from latex

Latex is also made from rubber. Latex is a polyisoprene that is mixed with various additives, e.g. minerals, resin and proteins. For a long time, the use of latex gloves was the standard, as they offer many advantages. Latex gloves are characterised by their high elasticity. As they are very elastic and soft, they adapt perfectly to the shape of your hand like a second skin. As a result, your sense of touch is retained and you can carry out work where good fine motor skills are crucial without being hindered by the latex gloves. The high level of flexibility offers you a very high level of comfort for fatigue-free and pleasant work. At the same time, they are very hard-wearing and tear-resistant, ensuring that you can work safely even under heavy use.

Latex gloves are also resistant to acids and alkalis. Even bacteria and viruses cannot penetrate the latex surface, which means you are reliably protected against infection. You can also simply dispose of latex in the residual waste as it is biodegradable.

Unless you have a latex allergy, disposable latex gloves are a very good choice for carrying out your work safely and comfortably. Latex gloves are very soft and therefore comfortable on the skin. Wearing latex gloves protects you from germs and prevents the transfer of infections.

Protective latex gloves are available in powdered and non-powdered versions, although you should note that powdered disposable gloves are no longer permitted in the medical sector due to the risk of allergies.

Disposable gloves in the medical sector

A large part of your work as a medical or healthcare professional involves direct contact with patients. In many situations, disposable gloves are essential to protect the health of your patients as well as your own health. In a general practice, you will take blood samples, pack urine and stool samples for dispatch to a laboratory or assist with minor operations. For all these activities, you need reliable, comfortable protective gloves that do not make your work unnecessarily difficult.

Protective gloves in cosmetics

As a cosmetician, you come into contact with many skin-damaging substances in your day-to-day work. Dyes and tints, such as those used for colouring eyebrows, can irritate your skin or leave unsightly stains. Colour removers, soaps and solvents disrupt the natural pH value of your skin and damage the protective lipid layer, which means that these substances can trigger contact allergies and eczema on repeated or prolonged contact. Disposable gloves offer you reliable protection to prevent such problems in the first place and prevent you from coming into direct contact with your customers' bodily fluids, such as blood or sweat. This prevents you from contracting any existing illnesses. However, your customers will also benefit if you wear disposable gloves. As the top layer of skin is specifically roughened during frequently used treatments such as peels, microdermabrasion or microblading, germs that you carry on your skin can easily penetrate and cause an infection. You can protect your customers from this by wearing disposable gloves for every treatment.

Disposable gloves in care

There is also a risk of coming into contact with potentially infectious bodily fluids in the care sector. Protective gloves also help you to minimise the risk of infection from smear infections in this profession. Disposable nitrile gloves are particularly suitable for use in the care sector, as their smooth surface prevents them from sticking to the patient's body hair. This prevents the unpleasant, tugging sensation that can be caused by the adhesive properties of latex gloves.

Protective gloves made of nitrile or latex are therefore your best choice if you need to protect yourself from infection or aggressive chemicals at work.