14 Mar Glove up for Permanent Makeup, Tattooing, Branding and Piercing
©
Doing a little research into tattoo history, or even glancing at old/new photos now on the net regarding this field, can yield some surprisingly eye opening facts. A lot of those photos, especially of old timers in the industry seem to have one thing in common at an educated deduction and glance. Where are the gloves boys and girls? I even look at my photos from 20+ years ago…. My how things have changed! We did not worry about AIDS, Hepatitis and Herpes back then. Today there are a myriad of bacterial forms that is enough to frighten you into wearing gloves and PPE’s including aprons and masks.
Well we won’t go there completely, but we will stress that modern professionals following OSHA guidelines, would never think of working or touch an open procedure without gloves and then some!
There is a lot to factor in when it comes to gloves. There is the size, fit, comfort, allergy concerns and costs. The best gloves in my opinion are form fitting, snug and are nitrile.
Why do I like Nitrile? Nitrile gloves are made by many different manufacturers and come in lots of great fun colors, but that’s not why. They are the strongest gloves out there and less likely to cause an allergic reaction that you might find in latex. Clients may or may not disclose they have this allergy, as some just don’t know they are sensitive to the proteins found in the chemical makeup of latex. I like to avoid this issue being proactive all together and stay safe with the usages of nitrile. Nitrile is usually much more expensive than the latex or vinyl, but well worth it. 
May I suggest you buy boxes, keep cases; you will be going through a lot of gloves. You cannot reuse them after procedures while tattooing or cleaning. I have been in clinics where I have seen the technician wash their contaminated gloves and place them in their lab coat pockets for the next client. I use an average of four to 5 pairs during a full set up complete start to finish. I know that sounds like a lot, but I like to be cautious and I have my own strict protocols to prevent cross contamination. Upon analyzing and organizing you might find you will use quite a lot of them also. Don’t be cheap and frugal, deciding one pair will do, this is not safe thinking and very dangerous to do. Somewhere you are missing a crucial step in asepsis that requires more. This is a good time to see where you might be lacking.
Remember, gloves do not need to be sterile for tattooing/piercing/branding procedures. But they do need to be free from contaminates. This is not an excuse to reuse one either, if you drop it on the floor, common sense applies here. Gloves protect both the client and the artist from bloodborne diseases. Your mind set married with your skill set as a professional should be your guide. Please use the approach of, if in doubt throw it out/replace your glove, if you think it is not clean, has a tear in it, or has been exposed to cross contamination.
BY: Pamela CCPC, CPDA and Susan Church CCPC, CPDA