What Are Latex Gloves?

Latex gloves are a particular type of protective glove. The medical profession uses latex gloves regularly, as do other industries that need to protect their workers' hands from irritants or infectious substances, and ones that need to protect the industrial process from contamination. People in the United States use billions of latex gloves per year for different purposes.

Manufacturing Process

• Latex comes from the sap of a rubber tree. Workers shave the bark from the tree and collect the sap as it runs out of the inner part of the tree. The latex rubber itself is made up of a collection of molecules attached to each other. This long string molecule, called a polymer, gives rubber its flexibility and elasticity, making it ideal for producing stretchy products such as gloves.

  A latex glove manufacturer adds chemicals to the rubber to make the rubber form a shape and other chemicals to prevent the rubber from breaking down. The manufacturer dips hand-shaped objects into liquid latex, takes them out and allows the rubber to cool and form the glove structure. Usually the latex gloves then undergo a sterilization process and the factory packs them so they remain sterile. Then the gloves are ready for use.

Uses

• Latex gloves are used in medicine by physicians, nurses and other doctors. The latex glove acts as a barrier to any infectious substances present in or on the patient's body. The glove also prevents the transmission of any foreign microbes or material from the doctor's hands to the patient. Microbiologists and other analysts may also use latex gloves when handling skin irritant chemicals or microbes.

Benefits

• Latex gloves are cheaper than gloves made from synthetic material. The latex gloves are generally more comfortable to wear than synthetic gloves, and the rubbery nature of the latex allows the glove to be more flexible and less stiff than synthetic materials. This flexibility of movement is more efficient for people who must have have nimble fingers, such as surgeons.

Disadvantages

• Some people are allergic to latex or the other chemicals used in the manufacturing process. True latex allergy occurs when the person's immunoglobulin E antibodies react to the proteins in the latex. The allergic person can develop hives, a runny nose, asthmatic symptoms and eye irritation. Sometimes the latex allergy can even cause the person to go into anaphylactic shock and even die. Occasionally a person can have a milder reaction where the skin that touched the glove can become irritated. Dry hands can have breaks in the skin that allow the latex proteins to enter through the skin barrier and the person then develops an allergy that was not already present.