Medical gloves irritant contact dermatitis risk

INTRODUTION A few mass outbreaks of irritant contact dermatitis (ICD) among medical stuff used medical gloves initiated its risk assessment. Irritant contact dermatitis is caused by residues of hazardous processing chemicals on gloves surface coupled with the irritation caused by frequent hand washing, strong surgical scrub agents, soaps and detergents. Because of continued every day gloves use, chemicals damage the surface of the skin faster than the skin is able to repair the damage (Fig.1). Bioavailability of complicated cocktail of chemicals can be evaluated by cytotoxicity testing. It is known that cytotoxicity and irritation test results are correlating closely. Different brands of latex, isoprene and nitrile medical gloves have been tested for cytotoxiciy to assess the risk of ICD.