Surgical gloves have a long history with the first heavy rubber gloves being introduced for surgery by William Stewart Halsted in 1890. At the time carbolic acid was being used to sterilize the hands but his nurse was suffering an adverse reaction to the chemical and was given the gloves to protect her skin. The practice was soon adopted by entire surgical teams as it was found to benefit patients by dramatically reducing infection rates and the use of surgical gloves soon became universal practice.
These early surgical gloves were extremely thick and their main disadvantage was a reduction in the sense of touch and dexterity of the surgeon but these problems were largely overcome by the 1930s as inprovements in manufacturing techniques enabled the production of a thinner, closer fitting, more flexible glove. Disposable latex medical gloves were introduced in 1964 by Ansell and further devepments have continued to be made to improve comfort for the wearer whilst retaining strength and allowing dexterity and tactile sensitivity to the user.
Latex free surgical gloves
Gloves made from natural rubber latex are still used used for surgery but latex free gloves are prefered because of the increasing incidence of latex allergy.
Isoprene is commonly used as an alternative to latex because it has a very similar molecular structure. This means it has the same properties but doesn’t contain the protein that causes an allergic reation. The main drawback of isoprene gloves is their high cost.
Neoprene (chlorinated isoprene) is also used. It has similar properties to latex but is less elastic and thicker so tactile sensitivity is reduced. Cost is greater than for latex gloves but cheaper than isoprene.
Improvements to surgical gloves continue to be made. Recent innovations include the use of polymer inner coatings to protect and moisturize the wearers hands. This was pioneered by Medline with it’s Aloetouch gloves to which an inner coating of pure aloe is applied.
These gloves are available in a wide variety of sizes to ensure a good fit and are supplied in individualy packaged, completely sterile pairs. Surgical gloves are manufactured to the highest standards and in the U.S. are required to comply with quality requirements defined by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).