How do you select your medical gloves?

Glove Consumer: If you're to choose a medical glove for your personal use, which would you choose, given the availability of so many types today?

John Woon: My answer is very simple. I do not want to wear any gloves if I can help it! Why? The answer is "common sense". Why should one wear gloves if it is going to affect the "feel" of the objects one is going to handle or touch hence affecting one's performance in carrying out a given task? Remember the reason why some refuse to wear condoms?

Hence, if I have to wear gloves to prevent the spread of diseases, among the first few criteria I'm going to look at is the "tactility" of the gloves i.e. how good is the glove in giving me the "tactile sensation" or "touch sensation" or "touch perception" or "skin perception", meaning simply....the ability to feel the heat, warmth etc via the skin with the glove forming a physical barrier.

The rubber that best suits this criterium is none other than Natural Rubber, Hevea Braziliensis. Also, natural rubber gloves have been proven to give the best barrier protection, tensile strength and tear properties.

As regards the protein issue, NR gloves manufactured today, especially those certified by Malaysia's SMG (Standard Malaysian Gloves) program, could now achieve non-detectable or very low level of residual protein that would have negligible tendency to cause sensitization after prolonged use.