Our skin is the most basic level of protection our bodies have against the outside world. However, many times our skin, particularly our hands, need an additional level of protection to keep safe and healthy. There are certain types of risks that are more common for the skin on your hands that you should be aware of so that you can take proper precautions to prevent them from effecting you.
- Dermatitis: This happens when you come in contact with cleaning agents or other solvents found in industries that involve cleaning, catering, hairdressing, metalwork, and laboratories. Contact dermatitis can turn up as redness, blisters, dry or cracked skin, or inflammation. When you’re looking for a pair of gloves to protect against contact dermatitis, you should look for gloves that will allow your skin to breath and room for sweat to evaporate.
- Tetanus: Another name for this is lockjaw, which is an infection that manifests itself with muscle spasms. The spasms begin in the jaw and eventually spread throughout the body. While lockjaw doesn’t specifically affect the skin or hands, it initiates with the skin. If your skin is punctured with a dirty nail or needle, this can cause tetanus to take root.
- Cement Burns: If you work with cement or other cement type products on a regular basis, you know that wet cement can actually burn you. Cement is inherently caustic, which means that it can seriously irritate you and chemically burn you. The best way to prevent cement burns is by wearing work gloves that are created to be chemically resistant.
- Heat Burns: A very common skin injury is a heat burn. This can happen accidently very easily. Burns are easily prevented, by simple wearing the proper pair of gloves. Many work gloves are created to be heat resistant so that you don’t have to worry about heat burns.
- Calluses: While some people take pride in earning their calluses, they can often become painful and unsightly. Wearing a proper pair of gloves will help to protect you from developing blisters on your hands. Calluses develop particularly in environments where your hands are going through lots of friction. You should choose a glove that has a thick or coated palm that will help to prevent calluses from forming.
It is easy to protect yourself from these common skin problems by wearing the proper protective gloves! It is better to be safe than sorry!