Exam Gloves

*Snap!*

Has anything pleasant ever come from the sound of an exam glove being snapped into place? Well, it may not be pleasant but, it is very necessary for the well-being of many people including the individual wearing the glove and the individual being helped by that person. These gloves are very necessary in the life of a quadriplegic as well as most persons with any type of neurological disability.

Latex exam gloves are becoming far less ubiquitous than they used to be because of a significant increase in latex sensitivity to outright allergies in people. I know that I become quite congested when exposed to latex, be it exam gloves at the dentist or latex therabands. Thankfully exam gloves are available in different materials such as vinyl.

They come in powdered and unpowdered. The powder is only on the inside of the gloves but they are in a boxes of 100 together so the powder inevitably gets spread around. It can cause dry skin for the user, it gets on and in everything, as well as being a potential irritant to both the wearer and the care recipient, but they are easier to apply to sweaty or moist hands. As such, the unpowdered variety are more common. They are more difficult to put on moist hands, but avoid the potential problems introduced by the powder.

The downside to vinyl gloves over latex is that they can affect dexterity. For many things the reduction is not a problem. For procedures such as dentistry or surgery that precise tactile feel is critical. The unavoidable wrinkles in vinyl gloves, which demonstrate their lesser elasticity, can be seen in the photo. Other factors where latex outperforms vinyl is their puncture resistance, again very applicable to the two aforementioned professions.

Latex and vinyl are not the exclusive materials used to make examination gloves but they are the least expensive. Those materials are accompanied by gloves made from the more costly polyisoprene, nitrile and neoprene, all with varying qualities including strength, fit, chemical resistance and environmental impact. The full chart I used for my research can be found here. Not all types can be found in individually packaged, sterile packaging for uses such as surgery, or more commonly, a caregiver catheterizing a patient. For those specific uses your choices may be more limited.

Exam gloves keep the user safe and keep the messy business of life with a disability a bit more contained and a bit more easily cleaned up.

Source: Drug and department stores, but for bulk pricing, medical supply companies.