What are Nitrile Gloves?

Nitrile gloves are the blue, or other colored, disposable gloves seen more frequently in use in the world today. We often get asked questions about these disposable gloves such as; are nitrile gloves latex free or what are the blue disposable gloves I saw on the police wearing on TV?  

The simple answer is that nitrile gloves are latex-free disposable gloves for use by people with latex allergies or people that may or will be working around or touching people with latex allergies. 

The more detailed answer to the question will be laid out in the rest of this article. 

Nitrile gloves come are primarily blue in color, but may also be available in other colors such as purple or black. They are are a type disposable gloves that are made of synthetic, or man made rubber. They are latex-free. They are made of synthetic rubber to help avoid any possibility of a negative reaction by individuals with latex allergies. They also provide excellent resistance to wear and tear and provide superior puncture resistance. They are one of the strongest types of disposable gloves that are generally safe for people with latex allergies. 

Nitrile gloves have other benefits in addition to avoiding latex allergies. They are much more puncture resistant than latex / natural rubber gloves. The combination of these two factors are why you see so many of these “blue” gloves used by medical and health care providers, hospitals, caregivers, police, tattoo artists, emergency first responders, TSA employees and anyone else that needs to provide barrier protection to the wearer and another person.

Nitrile is a synthetic (man-made) tri-polymer that has similar characteristics to rubber once it has been vulcanized. Nitrile has now no rubber proteins and due to this eliminates the risks associated with natural rubber latex. Latex on the other hand is made from the natural sap in the rubber tree. 

Nitrile gloves are available in powdered or powder-free varieties. The powdered nitrile gloves do not use any latex in the powder. They are powdered with corn starch. The corn starch may dry out the hands when used which could be confused with a latex allergy. 

Nitrile gloves used to present a big difference in tactile sensation with latex gloves. Improvements in the manufacturing of nitrile gloves has improved this dramatically reducing the differences substantially. 

Nitrile gloves can also be designed to provide superior resistance to many chemicals. Some are available in “chemo rated” versions to provide the highest level of chemical protection. 

Nitrile gloves also generally have a lower price than latex gloves. This is due to the fact that latex gloves are made of natural rubber which has volatile pricing that goes up and down. Nitrile prices are much less volatile as they are a man made product not impacted by natural occurrences that may impact the production of rubber.

Nitrile gloves are a safe, effective and economically priced caregiver hand-to-patient barrier protection for use in the care of incontinent adults. They can be used when cleansing the skin of the patient, applying skin lotions, ointments and creams and during general house keeping chores when cleaning rooms or handling dirty laundry. They are an excellent choice for a multi-purpose use disposable glove.