Hello, I just recently dropped out of dental hygiene school and am in need of advice. I have hyperhidrosis, in which I'll sweat excessively from the forehead in certain situations. It happens only rarely during my normal everyday life though. It never dawned on me that this would lead to my dropping out of dh school though. In school, I eventually came to realize that I could not go past a half hour with my PPE (mask, googles, gloves, lab coat) without sweating profusely and fogging up my glasses! And this would happen regardless of whether I was nervous or not. You could imagine all the problems this would present - dripping sweat over a patient (God forbid their mouth!), trying to see through fogged glasses, and trying to maintain asepsis when you constantly need to wipe sweat off your face. I had all this to worry about including the fact that dental hygienists wear this equipment practically all day long.
Funny that something like this would lead me to drop, but I could not go through all that on a daily basis as a career. Now I'm back to square one. I have to decide on another career and all of the prerequisites I've taken for dental hygiene are essentially the same for nursing. My question is would a career in nursing present the same problems for me as in dental hygiene? Are nurses in situations where they must wear gloves and a mask a lot like dental hygienists? I don't really sweat that much in normal circumstances, except on a hot day or when I'm exercising. It's just those two things (gloves and mask) seem to amplify my chances of sweating because I'll get really hot after a while. I'm aware that there are different types of nursing careers and clinical settings, which is why I'm considering going into nursing - plus the fact that I've already got the prerequisites. Should I pursue this career? Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated =)
