Harmfulness of Chemical Vulcanization Accelerators for Medical Glove Users 

Key­words: Accel­er­a­tors, Med­ical Gloves, Aller­gy

Medical gloves expose users to allergies

Med­ical gloves pro­tect health­care work­ers from microor­gan­isms. They can be made from var­i­ous mate­ri­als, some of which require vul­can­iza­tion – a process of hard­en­ing rub­ber. Vul­can­iza­tion neces­si­tates the use of spe­cial sub­stances called accel­er­a­tors, which can cause aller­gic reac­tions when they come into con­tact with the skin.

Allergies to Vulcanization Accelerators

Symp­toms of aller­gies to accel­er­a­tors include:

  • Itch­ing
  • Red­ness,
  • Dry­ness,
  • Peel­ing,
  • Crack­ing and bleed­ing scabs

Preventing Allergies

  • Choose accel­er­a­tor-free gloves
  • Pay atten­tion to the pack­ag­ing descrip­tion and look for infor­ma­tion indi­cat­ing the absence of accel­er­a­tors.
  • Use syn­thet­ic gloves instead of latex gloves
  • Choose gloves of the appro­pri­ate size and qual­i­ty
  • Reg­u­lar­ly change gloves
  • Put gloves on dry hands only
  • Avoid con­tact with oth­er sources of latex and accel­er­a­tors
  • Con­sult a doc­tor if aller­gy symp­toms occur

Summary

Chem­i­cal accel­er­a­tors used in the vul­can­iza­tion of med­ical gloves can cause aller­gies. To avoid them, fol­low the rules for select­ing and using gloves. If aller­gy symp­toms occur, con­sult a doc­tor.