When the hands cannot be protected by more effective engineering measures, gloves give the best possible protection. They are used to protect the hands mainly from chemical and biologic agents, but they can also be used against physical and mechanical hazards. Gloves may also be necessary for the protection of foodstuffs from contamination by the hands, or for the protection of patients against contamination by microbes on the hands of medical personnel.

However side effects from glove wearing are not uncommon. One major disadvantage of wearing gloves is skin occlusion, intense sweating and subsequently skin maceration. This can provoke skin irritation, while the barrier properties of the skin are reduced. Additionally, the prevention of evaporation of skin moisture by gloves creates a disagreeable skin feeling and reduces compliance with employer requirements to use this protective measure.

There are skin protection formulations available, which can reduce skin maceration induced by wearing gloves and therefore increase compliance and keep the skin in a healthy state. However, it is important to realize, that by using these formulations, interactions between the skin protection formulation and glove material occur.

Unfortunately, no standard test method is available to analyze this interaction. By modifying the standard test methods for gloves, which investigate the properties of glove materials, the influence of protection creams on glove materials can be investigated.

For evaluation of the impact of a skin protection gel on glove materials, two modified standard methods were used. One method is the determination of the tensile strength of the glove material (EN 455-2/ASTM D 412-98a).

Another method which can be applied is the electrical leakage test method, which is standardized for condoms (EN 4074). This method was preferred to the water leakage test which has been shown to be not very sensitive in that only holes with a diameter >50 um can be detected.

In both investigations, half of the natural rubber gloves were pretreated with a high amount of skin protection gel for a period of 2 hours. Subsequently, the tensile strength or the electronic resistance was determined in accordance with the methods mentioned above. Then the results were compared to the readings of the untreated gloves.

The results demonstrate that the skin protection gel reduces very slightly the tensile strength of the glove material. Based on the electronic method, no interaction between skin protection gel and natural rubber gloves could be found.

Both test results demonstrate the excellent compatibility of the skin protection gel with natural rubber gloves. Comparing both test results, the measurement of the tensile strength seems to be more appropriate to determine slight interactions between glove materials and skin protection formulations.