I smell like formaldehyde

[jpro]

It's nasty. What sucks the most is leaning over my cadaver and getting your scrubs soaked in it and having pieces of fat stuck to you and then having to go to the bookstore.

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[DrMom]

It's nasty. What sucks the most is leaning over my cadaver and getting your scrubs soaked in it and having pieces of fat stuck to you and then having to go to the bookstore.

Ahhhh. The joys of MS1! *reminisces fondly*

 

[sambo]

My favorite part was the stench on my hands that no amount of washing and scrubbing would remove. Everytime I raised food to my mouth, I got a snootful of dead human grease and formaldehyde. Yummy!

 

[KmB247]

**sniffs** me too 😀


but wasn't it fun !!!

 

[ddmo]

Wear that smell with pride, tons of people would do anything to have the privledge to smell like that. jk

Anyways, for some reason the smell doesn't stick on me more than a couple hours after lab???

 

[Jaded Soul]

My favorite part was the stench on my hands that no amount of washing and scrubbing would remove. Everytime I raised food to my mouth, I got a snootful of dead human grease and formaldehyde. Yummy!

Are you using nitrile gloves? I remember those working well to keep out the smell.

 

[ddmo]

I use nitrile and their golden.

 

[carrigallen]

1. Keep your anatomy clothes and regular clothes entirely separate - including shoes and socks.

2. Use purple nitrile gloves. It is worth the extra money.

3. You can also find little white plastic aprons, which are reusable. These are useful.

 

[beanbean]

Another vote for nitrile gloves! They work wonders on keeping the smell off your hands.

Good point about changing into/out of lab clothes immediately before and after anatomy. Keep everything separate and toss them when you are done.

You shouldn't be wearing scrubs with bits of fat hanging off them. That's nasty and unsanitary. Stay out of the bookstore if you are wearing cadaver parts on you.

We dissected through the entire year - organ-based curriculum. The smell and the mess is definetely less as the cadavers dry out a bit. Sometimes it helps to do the prep - removing skin, fascia, etc - a day earlier than when you will actually be looking for structures.

Good luck. Anatomy lab is truly the best of times and the worst of times.

 

[Tone2002]

lava soap works well in getting the smell off of your hands.

 

[lattimer13]

Ahhhh. The joys of MS1! *reminisces fondly*

reminices for about 2 seconds.
😀

 

[ericdamiansean]

I spilled some pure formaldehyde when I was driving in my car once...bad experience,eyes started tearing and all..

 

[SaltySqueegee]

I use nitrile and their golden.

Thank you for this wonderful piece of advice. 👍

 

[Tiki]

I haven't tried nitrile, but I have been using Vinyl under my latex gloves. Its worked pretty well. However, I'm kinda short and I have to lean over my cadaver, so even though my hands don't smell, my scrubs do. 🙂

My locker, even though I take my dirty scrubs home every night, is really starting to smell.

 

[dankev]

My hands still stink with nitrile gloves, but I've found that Gojo goes a long way for getting the stink off.

 

[jpro]

I have been doubling up the cheep latex gloves, and it works just fine. Now if I can only keep the fat from sticking to my scrubs. 🙄

 

[kchan99]

anti-static spray...? I don't suppose that the laundry service uses fabric softener.

 

[ddmo]

1. Keep your anatomy clothes and regular clothes entirely separate - including shoes and socks.

2. Use purple nitrile gloves. It is worth the extra money.

3. You can also find little white plastic aprons, which are reusable. These are useful.

The color of the gloves isn't of importance, just what they are made of.

 

[Firebird]

I spilled some pure formaldehyde when I was driving in my car once...bad experience,eyes started tearing and all..

Hasn't this happened to us all?

 

[toofache32]

At least you can fart and nobody knows it. Or was it just me?

 

[Mumpu]

Wash out your nostrils with water after lab. Formaldehyde vapors in your nose will make everything (including food -- yuk!) smell like anatomy lab.

 

[John Deere Gree]

At least you can fart and nobody knows it. Or was it just me?

did that today. Someone in our group just mentioned how bad the cadaver smelled. I had a hard time keeping a straight face.

 

[adrenal_medulla]

We had this awesome system with hoods that blew air down on the cadavers and vents in the side of the table that sucked the air back out, so the cadavers didn't smell bad at all. We kept them moist with this minty stuff that didn't stink (but kind of ruined the experience of eating anything minty). The only thing that stunk was the prosection which wasn't under a hood. Nothing but fond memories of anatomy lab. Neener neener neener. 😀

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,
Dishwasher detergent got rid of the smell for me both in scrubs and off my hands. Be careful though, the stuff will take off a layer of skin if you soak in it or use too much. The Nitrile gloves work well too and I always kept my anatomy lab books, notes and other stuff in plastic. I never allowed them to come in contact with anything else. The worse thing is getting chum in your hair. I always wore one of the little shower cap OR caps in the lab. Kept the smell out too.
njbmd

 

[Winged Scapula]

Anyways, for some reason the smell doesn't stick on me more than a couple hours after lab???

That's what you think. (sorry, couldn't resist). 😉

 

[DrMom]

That's what you think. (sorry, couldn't resist). 😉

Really!! I was up at school the other day & could smell the poor MS1s coming from quite a distance.

 

[Amy B]

I love the scene in the movie Gross Anatomy when she is sitting reading and two guys start sniffing the air and then look at her in disgust and say..."Med students.". Then she sniffs her clothes because she has no idea she stinks. 😀

 

[oudoc08]

I love the scene in the movie Gross Anatomy when she is sitting reading and two guys start sniffing the air and then look at her in disgust and say..."Med students.". Then she sniffs her clothes because she has no idea she stinks. 😀

We are req. to wear lab coats over scrubs. Keeps some smell (very little) and all the nasty pieces off.

 

[ddmo]

That's what you think. (sorry, couldn't resist). 😉

I ascertained this from outside (non med. student) sources, not my own thouroughly tainted olfactory sensors.

 

[zippie]

I do the double glove thing... nitrile over latex. Luck for us, they give us lab coats to wear over our scrubs so surprisingly, my scrubs dont really smell although the sleeves get nasty after a nice soak in some fat.

Having one of those air freshners in your locker helps a lot...

 

[jpro]

Yesterday I experienced my first tank splash. This is what occurs when the body is placed into the tank to quickly. I didn't get splashed, but it was a close call. I'll definitely be more careful next time. That?s what I get for spending the majority of my Sunday doing my pro-section.

 

[v-tach]

I spilled some pure formaldehyde when I was driving in my car once...bad experience,eyes started tearing and all..

...what was formaldehyde doing in your car???

Yuck.

 

[Amy B]

...what was formaldehyde doing in your car???

Yuck.

It is a preservative, isn't it? That is how med student preserve their cars so they can make it through 4 years of med school without having to buy another car.

 

[gschl1234]

3. You can also find little white plastic aprons, which are reusable. These are useful.

Where do you buy plastic aprons?

 

[Firebird]

I do the double glove thing... nitrile over latex. Luck for us, they give us lab coats to wear over our scrubs so surprisingly, my scrubs dont really smell although the sleeves get nasty after a nice soak in some fat.

Having one of those air freshners in your locker helps a lot...

If you're going to double glove, you should wear nitrile underneath and latex over top. CH2O permeates latex much faster, so this way you can change latex gloves every so often without much penetration through the nitrile. This way, you're changing the cheap latex instead of the nitrile.

 

[koma]

If you're going to double glove, you should wear nitrile underneath and latex over top. CH2O permeates latex much faster, so this way you can change latex gloves every so often without much penetration through the nitrile. This way, you're changing the cheap latex instead of the nitrile.

my thought was- if you are wearing nitrile on top, you won't have to switch them. With latex, you basically have to switch every hour or 2 because they get so stretched out by fat. I bet with nitrile you can keep going for the entire dissection. Maybe there needs to be a study on the most economical combination of gloves.

 

[ddmo]

Yesterday I experienced my first tank splash. This is what occurs when the body is placed into the tank to quickly. I didn't get splashed, but it was a close call. I'll definitely be more careful next time. That?s what I get for spending the majority of my Sunday doing my pro-section.

Tank splash? You submerge the cadaver in formaldehyde after you are done with each dissection?

 

[Xandie]

Drew - we submerge them after drenching the body with a bucket of the fluid. What do you guys do?

On the topic of splashing:

A girl across from my table got splashed last week, drenching half of her body. Her face was fine, thank goodness.

Another guy was talking when he dropped his donor, and got a mouthful of the juice. He had a sense of humor about it though.

 

[Amy B]

Does anyone wear their soft contact lenses? They told us that they do not recommend wearing them but I can't stand wearing glasses. Has anyone had any troubles wearing them?

 

[dancinjenn]

Amy B: I don't have any problems when I wear mine, but most often I wear my glasses...A lady at my table had to quit wearing her contacts because they started bugging her too much.

As to what us Wayne staters do to preserve...drench with water over paper towels to keep everything moist. Our body, a really chubby lady, only smells real bad when we have to flip her.

 

[DrMom]

Does anyone wear their soft contact lenses? They told us that they do not recommend wearing them but I can't stand wearing glasses. Has anyone had any troubles wearing them?

I generally wore mine in lab because we had histo lab right after & I hate looking through a scope with glasses. I never had any problems.

 

[ddmo]

Drew - we submerge them after drenching the body with a bucket of the fluid. What do you guys do?

Yeah, we just use some water and paper towels which keeps them more than moist enough. If you are submerging them each time, I bet that makes the smell a lot worst.

 

[aparecida]

Bumping this thread for those of us who start anatomy tomorrow. I like the shower cap idea.

 

[Medikit]

My lab doesn't use formaldehyde 😛

 

[ufblondi]

no sense of smell here...guess I'll have to pay close attention to the facial expressions of people when I get around them to see if I smell or not 🙄

 

[Dr Who]

We dissected through the entire year - organ-based curriculum. The smell and the mess is definetely less as the cadavers dry out a bit. Sometimes it helps to do the prep - removing skin, fascia, etc - a day earlier than when you will actually be looking for structures.

Good luck. Anatomy lab is truly the best of times and the worst of times.

My school has cadaver immersion tanks so they never dry out. 🙁
My anatomy professor did tell us that during the anatomy block we will all be cursing and hating the class, but afterwards we will remember it and somehow miss the experience. Hard to understand that logic.

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,

"Freshman perfume" is difficult to remove. Your best bets are to wear the same pair of scrubs to anatomy lab and destroy them at the end of the term. The good thing is that formaldehyde destroys bacteria and is better to smell than putrefication.

Nitrile gloves are a good idea and so is using a good pumice soap after lab is done. There is no single method that will completely remove the smell from your hands. You just have to get used to it.

As someone noted, there are hundreds of pre-meds that would love to be in your place so wear your "freshman perfume" proudly (especially to the student union during lunch).

njbmd 🙂

 

[Amy B]

I could not stand the smell of my hands after lab. I would wash them and wash them and couldnt get the smell out. But I went to CVS and bought a $6 box of nitril gloves and have never had to smell that horrid after smell on my hands again. They really work.. and they are a cool purple color 😉

I did end up wearing my contacts since my glasses aren't the same perscription as my contacts and teh one day i wore them i couldnt see properly. I did worry eveytime about my corneas sealing to my contacts like they told us could happen. One more blockk of anatomy and then I am through. I haev hated that lab time with a passion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Good luck gross anatomy newbies and welcome!!

 

[tupac_don]

My favorite part was the stench on my hands that no amount of washing and scrubbing would remove. Everytime I raised food to my mouth, I got a snootful of dead human grease and formaldehyde. Yummy!

Don't you use gloves????????

 

[PositiveQsign]

For those of you who find the smell of formaldehyde unbearable during the acutal lab here are a few things that worked great for me.

First, I used Vick's Vapor Rub under my nose. I know, it sounds very odd (maybe disgusting), but just a thin layer and all I smelled during the three or four hours I was down in lab was the Vicks. Which to me was a much more palatable smell.

Secondly I wore one of those thick paper/cloth particle masks that can be purchased for $4 or $5 from the local hardware store. It cut down on the smell quite a bit. The Vicks plus the mask worked fabulously! After a few weeks quite a few students were wearing masks, so donning a mask really isn't that strange.

Lab was much more enjoyable when I couldn't smell anything and I didn't leave with a horrible chemical-induced headache.

Good luck!