What Happens To Your Hands When You Wear Gloves Every Day
Wearing gloves isn't only a fashion choice but also helps keep infections at bay. According to Safeopedia, there are various kinds of gloves such as leather, latex, metal net, and cotton fabric. Metal net gloves are mostly meant for industrial purposes to prevent the hands of construction or factory workers from deep cuts, abrasions, or blisters. Leather and cotton fabric gloves are often used as either fashion accessories or to prevent the hands from harsh temperatures. Latex or rubber products are designed to be chemically resistant and are perfect for working in the medical industry by surgeons, nurses, doctors, or lab testers.
Needless to say, most people have to don gloves every day to avoid exposure to harmful environmental hazards. It's also necessary to have medical gloves on when you are in a space with germs or coming in contact with sick people (via Stony Brook University). At the same time, it's also important to avoid touching the gloves to your face, especially the nose or eyes as it may cause health complications.
Is it safe to wear gloves every day?
If you have to wear gloves daily, you might be concerned about how it could affect your skin health. Research on this topic is quite limited, however, most researchers believe it all depends on the quality of the glove material and fitting. The European Journal of Dermatology revealed in a 2010 study that most healthcare workers required to adorn rubber gloves every day may have increased allergenic symptoms of contact dermatitis.
According to a 2006 study published in Contact Dermatitis, hand dermatitis risk increases in people who wear loose-fitting gloves because of the imbalance in pH levels. If the gloves sit tight, the pH remains under control, reducing the chances of hand dermatitis. The study mentioned that if you wear gloves daily for 8 hours for 5 days a week, you might probably experience skin dryness, but the irritation would be considerably lesser if the fitting is right.
In 2021, a group of scientists discovered a solution for dealing with hand eczema issues from the continuous use of gloves. The study published in the Journal of Dermatology explained that applying topical hand moisturizers before wearing gloves mitigates hand eczema signs and may be ideal for soothing severe irritation.