Wearing disposable gloves to supermarket

[Balhammom]

Curious to know if I’m being OTT or if others are doing this too?

My logic is that I’m going to be handling lots of dirty surfaces that others have also touched. I don’t want to transfer these to my car. Hence, I wear gloves to do my shop and pack, but remove them before getting back into my car. I also immediately disinfect my shopping and (eg) bank card once I get home.

@mous thank you for sharing your views - I think many will have listened My use of gloves wasn't to protect me from Covid (it was pre Covid) - it was to protect my raw hands from bacteria and the physical rough and tumble that my hands endured - I wore them at home more than anything. The Dyshidrotic Eczema Community are really struggling through this, hand washing and alcohol gels are our nemesis. Cleaning hands that are covered with scabs, peeling dry skin, cracks and blisters is never going to be a great job - too much surface area for a virus to hide...sometimes limiting your exposure is your only option.

@mous I'm self treating with UVB light at the moment, I haven't heard of UV sterilising light. Silver has helped deal with the inevitable staph infections you get with Eczema, I guess it's better than nothing but I don't rely on it to protect me. This flare just erupted in early December and it came from nowhere, took over my entire body...I have an appt with a Derm in a couple of weeks - no surprise it will now be a (weird) chat on the phone - I need/want a patch test - I need to find out what is triggering this.

I've decided that wearing gloves isn't actually that necessary. You still have to avoid touching your face etc. I also think that some people wearing masks, gloves etc think it makes them invincible and blasé about social distancing. People wearing homemade masks/scarves seem particularly prone to this.

I use hand gel when I get back into my car and thoroughly wash my hands when I get in. I also wipe the steering wheel, handbrake, doors etc once I've unloaded as well as my phohe, purse, credit cards, keys etc.

I wear disposable gloves and a mask. Gel hands etc, and wash when I get home

@MogeatDog

I'll have a think for you i.e. will ask people cleverer than me. Send me a message if I don't get back to you

hope your appt is fruitful - during these times any rheumatologist will probably be jumping at the chance to get back to a proper derm issue you might not get them off the phone....

To earlier point, I know you can disinfect surfaces and equipment using a special kind of UV light, but I don't have much knowledge of it. Some hospitals and labs have them. The medical grade lamps would not be advisable for human skin though as might cause burns.

I have however seen commercial UV disinfect light boxes / lamps for about £100. I'm not totally sure of the efficacy of the ones on say Amazon though. I'd want one lab tested. And I'm not sure on broken skin either thinking about it, I don't know of it would impact (healthy) cell growth interruption. Hmm.

I think in your case gloves and sterilising gloves frequently would be the only option but you can't wear any gloves either? Understandable with broken skin it will probably adhere to the latex / nitrile. Ouch 😬

As said not rheum myself but I'll ask a colleague tomorrow or next day if they have any ideas for disinfect procedures.

On gloves, it's a tough one - I'm sure I saw more abrasive 'but I'm safe if I wear gloves, right' answers to my posts but they seem to have gone....maybe I just imagined them at stupid o clock in the morning. Anyway it's just another perspective. I'm happy to be wrong on things. There's no official advice on them. But I think with gloves though anyone who stops and thinks about it can see at least how they create a single surface of multiple contacts in a high traffic area, and that's not good.

It's great people are being proactive and don't think wearing gloves is unreasonable in terms of intent, it's totally understandable, it's just in practice it may do more harm than good. And we want to feel protected. People don't want to bring it back into their households. My worry is that gloves are a false friend here and I promise I am not (just) motivated by the prospect of having no gloves in a few weeks.

I liked the posts saying they are sanitising between surface touching whether keys, food packet, trolley - that's the 'gold standard' mentality and it's hard, you really have to train yourself into it - thinking of terms of every new contact (not new thing) is a potential danger. Btw if you are doing this you are probably doing better than quite a lot of the NHS 😂

Anyway, people with derm issues are really between a rock and a hard place on this one. What a nightmare.

@MumW that's excellent practice.

Everyone should copy her, including me

...if you use marigolds you are still touching multiple surfaces and potentially making yourself a vector. And if everyone wears them, multiple contact contamination.

You are making yourself a vector by touching, full stop.
This is with or without gloves.
If nobody wears gloves and they all touch containers, bags, boxes, trollies, etc., they are all spreading germs if they have them. But if you wear gloves at least you have a better chance of not picking anything up on the skin of your hands.

The gloves are not the problem. Touching is the problem.

I think I expanded on that just after the part you quoted. People do not disinfect gloves the way they (should) disinfect hands i.e. between new contacts they are much more likely to leave on gloves and not clean surface of gloves. And dermis / gloves different surface for viral particles.

If you are using marigolds to clean with, the water and soap / cleaning product is constantly removing particles. It's a bit of an over the top analogy, but Imagine using the same pair of marigolds to touch multiple infectious and non infectious patients without cleaning the gloves in between. That's an easier picture to show how gloves transfer particles from site to site if you don't disinfect thoroughly between contacts. And continuing with this is is really hard to thoroughly get into all the microscopic nooks, bumps, ridges, and (visible) pattern on gloves to disinfect thoroughly. That's why we use disposable gloves for each new contact.

I'm not saying it's quite the same as moving between patients but it is imo a potential risk activity as we do think there is a risk from surface to surface contamination too, a risk that is most pertinent in high traffic, high contact circulation areas. I mean that's someone is wearing gloves in the first place right, they must believe in that as well and are trying to take precautions on surface to surface contact as well. I am just saying it is likely counterproductive and unfortunately may increase risk for others.

Wear marigolds for things like cleaning, or single site contacts like taking bins out of potentially contaminated material then leave them in a solution of weak bleach afterwards.

TL:dr disposable gloves in a supermarket carry risk of making you into a vector.