Hands breaking out

[mercys]

One of out surgeons has breaking out on his palms. Looks like aligator skin. Nothing has helped. Dermotologist recomended glove liners. Any one use these and do they help people with bad skin problems. He has tried creams,different scrub products. Latex free goves of course.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Are they sure it's the gloves and not what he's using for scrubbing? Does he do the soap and water scrub or the waterless? There are quite a few people I work with who can't use the waterless scrub because they react to it.

[Libitina]

Does he rinse properly? I found that if I don't spend a bit extra time rinsing, I come up in a rash.

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

Alligator skin, huh? Is the climate very dry and cold where you are now? What does he do on his off time? A lot of surgeons I know like to do carpentry work. Has he changed his soap at home? I am just trying to think outside the box.

Since he has consulted a dermatologist, and creams, etc does not seem to help, I am at a loss. He is not using Avagard is he? What about Betadine scrub? I have found that Betadine scrub can be terribly drying, so I use the CHG instead.

This sounds completely weird, but when my hands get "alligator like", the only cream that works for me (even better than my dermatologist recommendation) is Le Couvent des Minimes honey and shea butter hand cream. Supposedly the story is that this lotion is made my nuns in a convent. They devised this lotion because when they were harvesting crops, the wind was drying their hands out so much and their rationale was to mix the honey into the shea butter in order for it to "stick" to the skin. Although it is sort of tacky, the tackiness dissipates when absorbed into the skin. Since it is very thick, it is best applied at night. I swear by this stuff, and have recommended it to some of my surg techs that suffer from extremely dry hands. One of them actually started to peel, her skin was so dry!

I hope he gets some relief!

[mercys]

We all pretty much use Avagard or a alchol based spray. I am interested in the glove liners. Wonder if they have helped anyone. I have a honey based cream I bought at the home show. The maker said it totaly cleared up his daughters exemia.I guess the antibacterial properties of the honey is great. I may take him some to try.

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

I have never used any kind of glove liner other than Kevlar liners for ortho surgery. I will ask around tomorrow and see what my other surgeons say.

[boopette]

I have some breakouts on my hands when I scrub. I think I just developed it over time because when I did my orientation I was fine. I've tried chlorhexidine, betadine, and avagaurd. I found that clorhexidine and avaguard break me out the morst. Betadine, not so much. After I scrub I always rinse my arms and hands with soap and water to get the remaining betadine off my skin, and this usually reduces my reactions. Some surgeons who have allergies to gloves use cotton glove liners. One surgeon even has his own sterile cloth gowns at our hospital because he had a really bad reaction to the paper sterile gowns.

[4_Sq]

My sympathy goes out to your surgeon... having gone that route in my early years, here is my story.

"Contact dermatitis to due latex sensitivity"

Remedy..

1) At Home: wash hands with dove soap only, be mindful of any latex objects you may touch, eg: rubber gloves, garden hose, tooth brush insert etc. Avoid all latex cross sensitivity foods eg: bananas etc. Do Not Wash Dishes!! If you must, use only ivory dish liquid.

2) Wear Duraprene surgical sterile gloves at work.. Only use latex over top if double gloving. Cardinal Health Supplies the duraprene gloves that I wear.

3) My contact dermatitis was being caused by the latex accelerator (thiram) this is is the element that is used in latex to set the form (shape) of the glove... (A dermatologist helped me figure this one out) I believe that some garden seeds even have a coating of this preservative on them to help them from rotting before planting. Radish seed is an example I found.

4) Unfortunately I had to take one course of corticosteroid treatment to "break" the Allergic cycle I was experiencing.

5) Believe it or not the hand pre-surgical scrub that I can use is the alcohol one, that has the soap pre wash that you do 1st thing in the AM then use the alcohol hand scrub for each subsequent scrub. You do not use a brush in this technique, and it is an approved scrub in our health region, and through out Canada.

My sensitivity began when one of the glove companies went to a more pure form of latex in our gloves. Apparently, this had made them less costly to manufacture.

It took me some years before this combination worked for me and I am happy to say that for 10+ years I have had "perfect hands"

You would never know I had a problem. (I actually had to do a different job for a while until I got this all figured out)

Good luck to any of you that has this problem, and to any of you, if you notice blistering, itching, reddening, following a surgical scrub, take preventative action right away!!!

[4_Sq]

Just wanted to point out that I meant to say latex accelerator Thiuram.... Thanks & good luck!!

[Jarnaes]

Try "Bag Balm"-it's absolutely wonderful. I have used it on everything from diaper rashes to dry skin.

Bag Balm

[SnowStar4]

Some people are allergic to non-latex gloves as well. It could be the nitrile or whatever kind you use.

[surgirl1]

SmileyfaceRN,

Would you please let me know what waterless scrub you are using. They have discontinued the one I use and I we can't find one that doesn't have any chlorihexidine in it. I live in Massachusetts. Could you please email me at [email protected]

Thank You,

Linda