Gloves/Masks for Anatomy Lab

[Schwann]

I am looking to buy a good face mask and gloves for anatomy lab. Are there any specific gloves/masks you all recommend? Do people commonly wear face masks to reduce the stench?

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[TooMuchResearch]

I am looking to buy a good face mask and gloves for anatomy lab. Are there any specific gloves/masks you all recommend? Do people commonly wear face masks to reduce the stench?

Any cheap nitrile gloves will do the trick. Don't worry about masking the stench; you'll lose your sense of smell after five minutes 🙂

 

[Forthegood]

I am looking to buy a good face mask and gloves for anatomy lab. Are there any specific gloves/masks you all recommend? Do people commonly wear face masks to reduce the stench?

hahaha the only thing the mask will keep away is your shot at hooking up with people in your class. The smell will go straight through it... not to mention, the smell absorbs into your clothes. You'll also notice your hands smell even after wearing gloves...

Think of it as the smell of years of your life going away...

 

[itellitlikeitis]

Just pick up a 2-pack of nitrile gloves from costco and forget about the mask like the other posters have already said

 

[Marcus Brody]

Gloves are usually provided. And there is no "stench" if the lab has decent ventilation, even so it's just the faint chemical smell of preservative.

 

[cpants]

Gloves are usually provided. And there is no "stench" if the lab has decent ventilation, even so it's just the faint chemical smell of preservative.

Wow, I wish my school had that ventilation system. Stench was bad in our lab, but there is no masking it. It's pervasive. You get used to it very quickly. No mask needed. Gloves will be provided. Double gloving with a layer of hand soap in between helped somewhat to prevent smelling it on your fingers while eating.

 

[MossPoh]

"Stench" makes it sound like they are rotting corpses that are left in the sun. I would just describe it as an unpleasant scent. You get over it pretty fast, even if you get that huge smack in the face that make your eyes water once in a while. It isn't a vomit inducing smell though. What makes it bad is that it permeates every friggin fibre of your clothes and your being. Every time I get a whiff of that, I have like PTSD style flashbacks.


Gloves are usually provided..... and lemon dawn soap. There will be moments when you may see your professor just dig in without gloves, which is somewhat uncomfortable to watch.

 

[osumc2014]

double glove, but the best solution is to get a bottle of lotion, and put it on your hand thoroughly and miraculously it will not smell after lab when you take ur glove off!

 

[bioteach]

Unless you are visibly pregnant, a mask will probably get you laughed at in lab. We were provided gloves, definitely double glove.

 

[Melicopter]

Depends on the lab. Ours had masks available, and a few people used them. I used one when we were working on the abdominal cavity, and no one laughed at me... to my face. 😉 A classmate brought some scented essential oil in that we would add to the masks. It made a lovely lavendar/formalin aroma. Also, be sure to double-glove. Lotion helps - even with two layers of gloves I'd notice a smell on my hands hours later, but I got used to it I guess.

 

[link2swim06]

As other posters said, if you wear a mask, people will laugh at you. Buy any type of gloves you want.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I never got used to the smell. It was overpowering and disgusting. I could taste it for hours after leaving lab. That's just one of many things that make anatomy the worst freaking class ever. I'd suffer through another OB/GYN rotation over doing anatomy again. I did have pretty good luck with nitrile gloves, though. I never noticed too much hand stench afterward, but when your whole body reeks, that doesn't make a lot of difference.

 

[235009]

double glove? lotion? mask? are you guys kidding?

just put on a pair of gloves, sack up and get to work. the cadaver is practically sterile... that's more than can be said for what you'll be touching later without going through a double gloving/lotion/masking ritual.

also gloves aren't provided at some (most?) schools

 

[itellitlikeitis]

double glove? lotion? mask? are you guys kidding?

just put on a pair of gloves, sack up and get to work. the cadaver is practically sterile... that's more than can be said for what you'll be touching later without going through a double gloving/lotion/masking ritual.

also gloves aren't provided at some (most?) schools

I always double gloved- you can easily tear through one and then you'd be in direct contact with formaldehyde.. at least with two pairs you can catch when you've torn through the outer pair and slip on a new outer glove

 

[Forthegood]

double glove? lotion? mask? are you guys kidding?

just put on a pair of gloves, sack up and get to work. the cadaver is practically sterile... that's more than can be said for what you'll be touching later without going through a double gloving/lotion/masking ritual.

also gloves aren't provided at some (most?) schools

👍👍 All of this, but especially the bold

I always double gloved- you can easily tear through one and then you'd be in direct contact with formaldehyde.. at least with two pairs you can catch when you've torn through the outer pair and slip on a new outer glove

You mean breathing it directly into your bloodstream is kosher, but having it touch your precious skin is not? DERMATOLOGY!

 

[itellitlikeitis]

You mean breathing it directly into your bloodstream is kosher, but having it touch your precious skin is not? DERMATOLOGY!

we use formaldehyde neutralizer sprays pretty liberally too

 

[futuredoctor10]

double glove, but the best solution is to get a bottle of lotion, and put it on your hand thoroughly and miraculously it will not smell after lab when you take ur glove off!

This! 👍 Definitely double glove. Does wonders to reduce the smell.

 

[bioteach]

double glove? lotion? mask? are you guys kidding?

just put on a pair of gloves, sack up and get to work. the cadaver is practically sterile... that's more than can be said for what you'll be touching later without going through a double gloving/lotion/masking ritual.

also gloves aren't provided at some (most?) schools

Tough guy, huh? More power to ya, but I needed the two sets of gloves...not for the contaminant factor, but the smell. Definitely cuts down the length of time the smell permeates your skin. One of our professors always went glove-free...30+ years of that and I can imagine the smell just doesn't ever come off.

 

[mvenus929]

Gloves will be provided.

Depends on the school; our syllabus says that we're required to provide our own gloves (we don't start the system for another 2 weeks).

 

[Galenos]

I love Anatomy-class, in fact so much that I've done three thorough cadaver sections (in Germany there are far too many body-donors, so my school offers a non-mandatory second gross anatomy-practical with only 4 persons pro cadaver and then you get two weeks of time to uncover all the magnificence of human anatomy 😍 ).
One pair of gloves is sufficient - I don't recommend working without gloves, the formalin will make your hands numb and tingling with paresthesia after a while.

Have a lot of fun with one of the most extraordinary experiences during med-school!

 

[Depakote]

One of our professors always went glove-free...30+ years of that and I can imagine the smell just doesn't ever come off.

I'm pretty sure the tips of his fingers are embalmed by this point. 😍