Disposable gloves have always been essential in healthcare services and forensic studies. Healthcare professionals, namely doctors and nurses, are required to wear gloves in order to prevent the spread of infection through germs and bodily fluids of patients. Medical and forensic researchers and people working in labs with chemicals need to wear gloves for various reasons, such as to protect their hands from harmful chemicals, to avoid unintentional evidence tampering, and so on.
The use of gloves in the above-mentioned fields has been around for decades and is nothing usual. However, something has happened in the last couple of years that has made a niche commodity like gloves indispensable for a much larger population. This event is the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though gloves have not become as essential or commonplace as masks, a lot of careful and meticulous people have sported gloves during the height of the pandemic to protect themselves from the treacherous virus.
Gloves can be of various types depending on the material they are made of. Three of these materials are latex, nitrile, and vinyl. We will take a careful look at each of these types and assess the differences among them.
Latex Gloves
For many years, latex has dominated the market for disposable medical gloves. This is because latex gloves were advised as a kind of protection against bloodborne infections like HIV in the 1980s and 1990s, as Darwin Brown pointed out in Physician Assistant. But as they became more well-known, allergic reaction cases also rose—this increased demand for disposable gloves without latex, such as nitrile and vinyl. If you’re not allergic, latex gloves are cozy, reasonably affordable, and provide a high level of touch sensitivity.
Disposable latex gloves are ideal for most medical settings because of their high levels of flexibility, protection, and comfort — provided latex allergies are not a problem.
Nitrile Gloves
Because they provide the maximum level of protection during procedures like exams and surgery, nitrile gloves are occasionally referred to as medical-grade gloves. The high tolerance of nitrile gloves for biohazards like blood, corrosives like hydrogen peroxide, and a variety of solvents and other oil-based compounds make them a popular choice. However, they fall behind their latex counterparts in terms of elasticity and flexibility.
But what is nitrile gloves? How are they made?
The copolymer nitrile butadiene rubber used to make nitrile gloves is created by joining the chemicals acrylonitrile and butadiene. Nitrile gloves are chemical resistance and flexibility are a result of these substances. Nitrile gloves are also puncture-resistant, and because of their composition, they are more prone to split if they break. As a result, no little tears or punctures will go undetected, and the contamination can be treated right away.
Vinyl Gloves
You can call these the butterfly valve of the gloves industries. Butterfly valves are the cheapest and easiest to install and maintain but they cannot control heavy liquid flow, which is popularly known as butterfly valve leakage.Similarly, although vinyl gloves are cost-effective, easy to use, and perfect for food preparation and serving, small cleaning ups, and light tasks, they are prone to wear and tears.
PVC (polyvinyl chloride), a petroleum-based film, and plasticizers are used to create vinyl gloves. They were among the first synthetic rubber products on the market, and hospitals and other sectors have utilized them for many years. Additionally, they provided a latex alternative free from allergies as the first synthetic substitute made available to consumers. They are a desirable solution for food preparation and worker safety because they do not carry the same allergy risk as latex or natural rubber alternatives.
Although disposable vinyl gloves are cheap, they are quite prone to tearing and punctures, which increases the risk of contamination. However, if the product’s thickness is sufficient, it can guarantee a certain level of safety. They are often the least expensive latex-free glove choice.
The Main Point Of Distinction Between Nitrile, Latex, And Vinyl Gloves
Although latex gloves are incredibly snug and comfortable and possess varying degrees of dexterity, making them perfect for almost every industrial and medicinal sector, they can also cause allergies in certain individuals.
Meanwhile, nitrile gloves provide a very high level of protection and are puncture-resistant. Due to their build, it is very easy to detect a tear or break. However, they do not provide the best range of motion and are restrictive.
On the other hand, vinyl gloves, while being a cheap alternative to latex, are very prone to damage and are of no use in high-risk and hazardous environments.
Concluding Thoughts
In conclusion, your choice of gloves will depend entirely on you, your environment, frequency of requirement, and the budget that you can afford.
Trusting our go-to hotel smart lock factory becomes so much easier when we possess the knowledge of smart locks to purchase the right one for the best safety during travels. Similarly, you must clearly understand what the three types of gloves consist of and what they can offer to solve your needs to get the right one.
We have laid out all important information and facts regarding the three types of gloves, namely latex, nitrile, and vinyl. Go through the article carefully and learn them, so you don’t fall prey to fraud next time you go buy a glove.
