bustylegs Posted October 19, 2006 Report Share Posted October 19, 2006 Hi all: I was wondering if people that are allergic to latex can go into a surgical specality. I was under the impression that most sterile surgical gloves are made with latex. The extension of my question, provided that the above assumption is correct, is what do surgeons do when their patients are allergic to latex? Thanks all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMD Posted October 19, 2006 Report Share Posted October 19, 2006 Hi all: I was wondering if people that are allergic to latex can go into a surgical specality. I was under the impression that most sterile surgical gloves are made with latex. The extension of my question, provided that the above assumption is correct, is what do surgeons do when their patients are allergic to latex? Thanks all! I think the answer to the first question is a question-- how allergic is the person to latex? Not all surgical gloves are made of latex-- there are non-latex gloves. If the patients is allergic--> avoid using latex.{ref}{ref} If the surgeon is allergic--> special operating room set-up... or quit doing surgery. One of the obstetricians I worked with said one of her friends finished training... but then had to quit 'cause of allergies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted October 19, 2006 Report Share Posted October 19, 2006 Hello, I saw a surgery last summer in which the patient was allergic to latex. Surgeons used gloves that were latex-free. Almost all the other material was already latex-free, for example tubes, so that was not really a problem. These gloves are more expensive, but they do the job. So I guess if a surgeon is allergic to latex, there is possibility to work with those gloves... I hope so because I'm allergic to latex and I really want to be a surgeon! Julie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crackers Posted October 19, 2006 Report Share Posted October 19, 2006 It will make your life more complicated having a latex allergy and being interested in surgery, but not impossible. If you have this as a career goal, you may be interested in finding out about immunologic therapy, which may or may not work (through an allergist). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted October 20, 2006 Report Share Posted October 20, 2006 Hello, Thank you crackers for your reply. I already asked my allergist about that, and he told me that there was no immunotherapy avalaible for latex allergy. My test was negative for the immediate reaction to latex, it's more like a skin reaction that I had after working in a research lab for a week, before entering med school. But it could worsen with exposure. I don't get symptoms if I don't wear them, I mean it's not a problem if the entire OR team wears them (I was in a OR for a couple of weeks this summer). Isn't it possible for a surgeon to always wear non-latex gloves like the ones they use when the patient is allergic? I was wondering if any of you ever heard of a surgeon allergic to latex, or what do allergic medical students do on their 3rd year surgery clerckship? I'm doing it next year, so I was wondering. Thank you bustylegs for bringing up that subject, it's been bothering me for a while. Julie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muchdutch Posted October 20, 2006 Report Share Posted October 20, 2006 Were the gloves powdered? Because maybe you are just allergic to the powdered ones which they use in research labs sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted October 20, 2006 Report Share Posted October 20, 2006 Hello, No they were not powdered, and I'm also allergic to kiwi, which is often involved in crossed-reaction with latex, so that goes with a real latex allergy. Thank you, Julie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peachy Posted October 20, 2006 Report Share Posted October 20, 2006 Sick Kids in Toronto is a latex-free hospital, I think? (I'm not sure, I just recall being told this during a long-ago volunteer information session). Are there not other latex-free hospitals out there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimmyMax Posted October 20, 2006 Report Share Posted October 20, 2006 Hey, There might be, but I doubt it's a widespread phenomenon. To the person who is allergic to kiwi- is it kiwi the fruit or kiwi the bird? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess the fruit! Hahaha, me funny! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMD Posted October 20, 2006 Report Share Posted October 20, 2006 Hey, There might be, but I doubt it's a widespread phenomenon. To the person who is allergic to kiwi- is it kiwi the fruit or kiwi the bird? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess the fruit! Hahaha, me funny! ... or perhaps to New Zealanders? --they call themselves "Kiwis". In any case, there does seem to be some amount of cross-reactivity between latex allergens and proteins present in kiwifruit. Also, it appears that immunotherapy may be effective-- based on this small study: Vozza I, Ranghi G, Quaranta A. Allergy and desensitization to latex. Clinical study on 50 dentistry subjects. Minerva Stomatol. 2005 Apr;54(4):237-45. PMID: 15973237. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bustylegs Posted October 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2006 Thank you bustylegs for bringing up that subject, it's been bothering me for a while. No problem, Scully. I'm glad that everyone cleared up the issue of latex allergy VS. surgery for us. Thanks all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Partizannka Posted March 2, 2010 Report Share Posted March 2, 2010 Is there no medication for your kind of allergy? So that it would keep it off while you are at work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mourning Cloak Posted March 2, 2010 Report Share Posted March 2, 2010 Depends how allergic is "allergic". Do you anaphylax coming into contact with latex? I remember the story of an upper-year clerk who was REALLY allergic to latex. Super careful. Anaphylaxed twice or thrice during clerkship. Intubated/ICU once. Long story short, it's pretty well impossible as a physician to avoid latex in a hospital. The clerk in question is now doing law school. (I guess she wasn't into psych). So it really depends how allergic you are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted March 2, 2010 Report Share Posted March 2, 2010 Depends how allergic is "allergic". Do you anaphylax coming into contact with latex? I remember the story of an upper-year clerk who was REALLY allergic to latex. Super careful. Anaphylaxed twice or thrice during clerkship. Intubated/ICU once. Long story short, it's pretty well impossible as a physician to avoid latex in a hospital. The clerk in question is now doing law school. (I guess she wasn't into psych). So it really depends how allergic you are. Dude, thread is 4 years old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mourning Cloak Posted March 3, 2010 Report Share Posted March 3, 2010 OMG - 2006 Bustylegs probably IS the med student who switched to law that everybody still talks about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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