Let's talk about the sterilization methods for natural latex gloves and how to store them.

What are the sterilization and storage methods for natural latex gloves? Latex gloves are the first line of protective equipment, generally used in households, industries, medical, beauty, and other fields. Natural latex gloves have excellent elasticity and flexibility, as well as certain abrasion resistance, tear resistance, and cut resistance.

Sterilization methods for natural latex gloves:

Used gloves should be removed immediately and soaked in disinfectant for 30 minutes. During soaking, the gloves should be turned inside out because they are often taken off with the outside facing out, which does not effectively remove dirt and sterilize. Since gloves are relatively light, they usually float on the surface of the liquid; during soaking, they should be pressed down to ensure they are submerged in the disinfectant for better sterilization.

Storage methods for latex gloves

1. Many drugs can damage gloves made from certain materials. If these are hazardous drugs, the degradation of the gloves may expose the human body to infectious substances. Drugs that may degrade and permeate the gloves include: glutaraldehyde, formaldehyde, xylene, hypochlorite solutions, alcohol, chemotherapy drugs, oils, petroleum ointments, non-polymer bone cement, and various disinfectants, bactericides, and general chemicals. When encountering these drugs, double-layer gloves must be worn.

2. When tape, labels, ECGs, or other sticky substances adhere to the gloves and are difficult to remove, it can also damage the protective barrier of the gloves. In this case, forcibly tearing them off may rip the gloves, so caution is advised.

How to identify the quality of latex gloves?

A good pair of latex gloves should have a clean and beautiful surface, be yellow, have good curl, high tension, and good air tightness.

High tension can be a bit difficult to test with our hands; professional machines are needed for testing. What we can do is observe the color. White latex gloves and white latex gloves both contain additives; the whiter the color, the more additives there are, and the lower the tension. However, many gloves with yellow pigments can change the color of the gloves, so this is not entirely reliable. Next, we should look at the degree of wrinkling of the gloves. For example, when a pair of latex gloves is opened from the packaging, gloves with a high latex content will not be wrinkled, while those with lower latex content will be more wrinkled. If a pair of gloves is wrinkled and white, then the latex content is very low. The reason we all use latex is that latex has extensibility and flexibility; there is nothing better than latex.

Measurement methods:

Length: The distance from the fingertip to the outer edge of the wrist.

Width: The widest point at the horizontal position of the thumb and four fingers.

Thickness: The middle finger and palm (double-layer) can be measured separately. For arbitration testing, the single-layer thickness can be measured by cutting the gloves.