Surgical gloves are a form of PPE or Personal Protection Equipment. These gloves are designed with the aim of protecting the clinicians in the environments of an Operating Room. The surgical gloves are acting as a kind of a protective barrier for the nurses, technicians and the surgeons to prevent any transmission of pathogens or diseases during the procedures involving working with the wounds or surgical instruments.
Attributes of Surgical Glove
1. All the surgical gloves are first sterilized and then the package is sealed with pairs of gloves for individual usage. This sterilization and sealing of the package is important and has become a standard in medical science, as the surgical procedures normally involve working on open wounds.
2. All the surgical gloves come as form fitted. This means that each and every surgical pair of glove has one glove that has been shaped for the right hand and one glove has been shaped for the left hand. This helps in providing the highest level of comfort and also helps in reducing the fatigue during the long procedures of surgery.
3. The size of the surgical glove is also important. This size ranges from 5.5 to 9. Also the gloves are available in increments of .5 and due to this, there is a size of glove available for every surgeon.
Types of Surgical Glove
There are three different types of surgical gloves available in the market.
1. Latex Surgical Glove: As the name suggests, these are the gloves that are made up of natural rubber latex. This material is having an excellent tactile sensitivity. Also there is a lot of elasticity in this material and hence, it becomes easier to stretch them well and fits well. The technology has even made them better. Inner coated by polymer gloves are better as they can be worn in both damp or dry conditions. Some of the latex surgical gloves have double gloving that helps in warning the surgeon for any kind of punctures during the surgical procedures.
2. Polyisoprene Surgical Glove: These are the gloves that are made from the synthetic polyisoprene, that has similar properties of latex. It was seen that some of the people have allergy to latex as latex has a harmful protein inside it. In order to rule out the allergy aspect during an operation, polyisoprene is now being used. Just like the latex surgical gloves, polyisoprene gloves are also available in polymer inner coating. The material used in these gloves is expensive, thus making these gloves the most expensive surgical gloves.
3. Neoprene Surgical Glove: These are the gloves that are made up of synthetic neoprene. This material is latex free and thus became the traditional synthetic material in terms of choice by the manufactures for synthetic surgical gloves. Though these gloves do not stretch as latex can, it still provides a barrier protection during surgical procedures and also is available in all sizes. Like other gloves, these gloves also are available with inner coating of polymer.
Though the aim of a surgical glove is to provide a barrier and tactile sensitivity along with the comfort, but choosing becomes difficult with the options available. Though the polyisoprene gloves are expensive yet the demand is continuously increasing.