# Medical question: Hand sanatizer related to latex? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 13, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-hand-sanatizer-related-to-latex/383929 "2006-12-13T04:42:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-hand-sanatizer-related-to-latex/383929/1 "2006-12-13T04:42:27Z")
My daughter’s hands, especially the backs, look like the surface of the moon–the jagged part, not the dust. She’s 7. They use hand sanitizer (goop that you smear on and don’t wipe off) a lot at school. She’s allergic to latex, but nothing else that we know of. The only thing we can think of is that the sanatizer is trashing her hands. Does that make any sense? ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-hand-sanatizer-related-to-latex/383929/2 "2006-12-13T04:46:26Z")
Some of the sanitizers are alcohol based, and can dry your skin (at least, they dry mine). You might want to get her a small bottle of moisturizing lotion and tell her to rub a dot of it in after sanitizing. A less messy alternative is chapstick – the clear moisturizer kind, in my experience, works as a pretty good “clean” hand lotion. Smear a bit on then rub it in. The problem, of course, is that either solution may defeat the purpose of the sanitizer when kept in the pocket of a 7-year-old. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-hand-sanatizer-related-to-latex/383929/3 "2006-12-13T05:01:12Z")
Typically hand sanitizers (although not all) have a moisturizer built in. I use them a great deal at work and my hands are significantly less dry when I use the hand sanitizer than my off days. So, it’s possible that it’s the hand sanitizers but she might also just have dry skin. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-hand-sanatizer-related-to-latex/383929/4 "2006-12-13T07:15:35Z")
[QUOTE=threemae] Typically hand sanitizers (although not all) have a moisturizer built in. I use them a great deal at work and my hands are significantly less dry when I use the hand sanitizer than my off days. So, it’s possible that it’s the hand sanitizers but she might also just have dry skin. [/QUOTE] Ah, I might have to change brands (or rather, get the person I “borrow” from to change brands.) Perhaps the cheaper the sanitizer, the less likely to have moisturizer built in. And I’m guessing the schools use the cheapest available. Just speculating here–it’s also possible she has an allergy to something in the sanitizer, probably a perfume. Can you ( **NoCoolUserName** ) find out the brand easily? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-hand-sanatizer-related-to-latex/383929/5 "2006-12-13T13:51:42Z")
Why on Earth are schools rubbing hand sanitiser over children’s hands? What’s wrong with soap and water? Talk about paving the way for an MRSA epidemic… ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-hand-sanatizer-related-to-latex/383929/6 "2006-12-13T14:10:33Z")
Indeed, if you think it’s the sanitizer, just tell her school to let her not use it for a month. (And, if you are me, be loud and annoying that they’re making all the kids use sanitzer in the first place.) ---
**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-hand-sanatizer-related-to-latex/383929/7 "2006-12-13T14:47:48Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] Why on Earth are schools rubbing hand sanitiser over children’s hands? What’s wrong with soap and water? Talk about paving the way for an MRSA epidemic… [/QUOTE] Use (or overuse) of alcohol hand sanitizer would not pave the way for any epidemic. It doesn’t create or promote any antibiotic resistance. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-hand-sanatizer-related-to-latex/383929/8 "2006-12-13T16:31:55Z")
My first thought was an allergy to lanolin, though the Wikipedia page suggests that medical-grade lanolin doesn’t contain the allergenic ‘wool alcohols’ (?). > **[Lanolin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanolin)** > > Lanolin (from Latin lāna 'wool', and oleum 'oil'), also called wool fat, wool yolk, wool wax, or wool grease, is a wax secreted by the sebaceous glands of wool-bearing animals. Lanolin used by humans comes from domestic sheep breeds that are raised specifically for their wool. Historically, many pharmacopoeias have referred to lanolin as wool fat (adeps lanae); however, as lanolin lacks glycerides (glycerol esters), it is not a true fat. Lanolin primarily consists of sterol esters instea Lanolin'... ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-hand-sanatizer-related-to-latex/383929/9 "2006-12-13T17:48:48Z")
[QUOTE=yoyodyne] Use (or overuse) of alcohol hand sanitizer would not pave the way for any epidemic. It doesn’t create or promote any antibiotic resistance. [/QUOTE] Alcohol-based sanitisers no, but there are very real concerns over sanitisers containing [triclosan](http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20000527/fob4.asp). ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-hand-sanatizer-related-to-latex/383929/10 "2006-12-13T22:22:46Z")
Regardless of moisturizer content, alcohol hand sanitizers dry out my hands. Is she prone to dry skin elsewhere? (eyelids, elbows, nose?) ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-hand-sanatizer-related-to-latex/383929/11 "2006-12-14T02:13:59Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] Alcohol-based sanitisers no, but there are very real concerns over sanitisers containing [triclosan](http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20000527/fob4.asp). [/QUOTE] I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, but I actually cannot find a hand sanitizer with triclosan or another antibiotic in it, although more and more soaps are having triclosan added to their formula. So, I think they’re actually _less_ likely to be encouraging resistant strains of bacteria with hand sanitizer than soap, although I think it’s equal if they use specifically non-antibacterial soaps. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-hand-sanatizer-related-to-latex/383929/12 "2006-12-14T03:19:44Z")
[QUOTE=yoyodyne] Use (or overuse) of alcohol hand sanitizer would not pave the way for any epidemic. It doesn’t create or promote any antibiotic resistance. [/QUOTE] Of course, there’s always the [Hygiene Hypothesis](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/10/4/l_104_07.html). Hand sanitizer use may not create nasty resistant diseases, but it could lead to people with weaker immune systems and more allergies. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/medical-question-hand-sanatizer-related-to-latex/383929/13 "2006-12-14T07:22:31Z")
[QUOTE=threemae] I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, but I actually cannot find a hand sanitizer with triclosan or another antibiotic in it, although more and more soaps are having triclosan added to their formula. [/QUOTE] Bath & Body Works carried a gel hand sanitizer that contained triclosan…I haven’t looked in awhile, so I don’t know if they still have it or not.