Evolution of the Surgical Glove

摘要

The early story of the use of gloves by surgeons and obstetricians has been well documented by Randers-Pehrson1 and by Miller.2 Walbaum, in 1758, used the cecum of the sheep as a partial hand covering in his obstetric practice, and gloves made successively of cotton, silk, leather, and finally rubber were used in the 191 century. Rubber becoming the material of choice after Charles Goodyear developed the vulcanization process to stabilize it in 1844. Initially, gloves were used to protect the surgeons' hands from injury during operations and autopsies. It was the introduction of the antiseptic technique of operating by Joseph Lister in 18673 that initiated a new hazard for the surgeon. This was the high incidence of skin sensitivity to the antiseptic agents used at that time, at first carbolic, tJien a variety of chemicals, which included picric acid, iodine, and perchloride of mercury.