Gloves and Coronavirus

SharonMH

Hi, Are you worried about wearing a glove. Just wondering what you are doing to stay safe from Coronavirus if your have to wear a glove. I have been using a plastic glove during the day and washing my glove at night. SharonM

chibae

Gloves can give a false sense of security as anything from wearing a ring under them to hitting them with your car keys can lead to almost invisible tears that can let microbes through to your skin. Also wearing them all day may lead to a moisture build up that can cause dermatitis on your hands, which then gives you harder to clean, broken skin.

I have spent many years teaching infection prevention in nursing homes, although I admit, not recently. My favorite activity was to have a group of people in my class put on gloves, some with jewelry on, some without. I would then dust their hands with a "teaching microbe", have them take off their gloves and look at their hands under a black light. It was easy to see whose gloves had tiny tears in them by the pattern of microbes showing up around their rings.

Wear you gloves, but be careful and frequently take them off, wash and dry your hands and mosturize before putting a pair back on.

Yogatyme

I am only using a glove when I pump gas. Immediately take it off once I’m finished and it goes straight to the trash, turned inside out.

Grandma05

I had my surgery in October, 2019. All lymph nodes removed on left side, lymphedema has set in on left arm. I'm done with chemo, no radiation, but still going to lymphedema clinic for my swelling in my arm. How vunerable am I to coronavirus? Should I be wearing gloves and face masks when I go to Dr appts and for my treatments? I had a masectomy on the left side.

MinusTwo

Grandma: If you could, please go to My Profile and fill in your diagnosis & treatment specs. Then you need to make it "public" so we can see it. All of those things will make a difference as to how much you are at risk at the present time.

Also I suggest you call your oncologist or PCP and ask them what they believe about your individual risk. Whatever you do, continue with the LEPT. Below is a link with lots of good information about LE.

https://www.stepup-speakout.org/