Hand care for veterinarians and vet techs

01 · The exam room

Exam, scrub, glove, disinfect, repeat

A vet team’s hands go from patient to patient, staff to staff and surface to surface all day. You wash at the sink, glove for the exam, wipe down the table with a clinic disinfectant, and sanitize on the way to the next room.

Every step keeps patients and people safe. Together, over a day of appointments, they’re hard on the hands doing them.

On the job, contact dermatitis shows up on the hands in about 80% of cases.Occupational contact dermatitis, as reported on the R&R Lotion blog (2023)

02 · The barrier

Your barrier is a brick wall

• Skin cells
• Oils and lipids
• Water
• Disinfectant

The outermost layer of skin, the stratum corneum, is made of dead skin cells held together by natural oils and lipids. Picture bricks and mortar. The mortar holds moisture in and keeps irritants out.

Frequent hand washing and sanitizing strip those oils. Clinic disinfectants are tough on skin, and exam gloves trap sweat against it. Over a day of appointments that adds up to dry, cracked hands.

03 · What develops

Irritant contact dermatitis

• Water escaping
• Irritants

Keep exposing skin to water, soap, disinfectants and the inside of a glove and the barrier breaks down. That’s irritant contact dermatitis. It starts as redness, itching and dryness and can progress to cracking and blistering.

Cracked skin is harder to keep clean, and sore hands make it harder to keep up with hand hygiene between patients. A sanitizer that doesn’t dry skin is one the team will keep using.

There’s a second type, allergic contact dermatitis, where skin becomes sensitized to something it touches. If your hands won’t heal, get them looked at.

04 · Why we built it

Built for the clinic

A clinic needs hand care the whole team will actually use between patients: a cleaner without harsh solvents, a sanitizer without drying alcohol, and a lotion with nothing in it that breaks down exam gloves.

The lotion and the sanitizing cream are dermatologist tested: 50-subject patch tests with zero reactions.ALS / BioScreen, FDA-registered lab, Study 22-522A (2022)

05 · Between patients

When to use what

1. 1
   OpeningI.C. Lotion, Fragrance Free, before the first pair of gloves. Let it dry first.
2. 2
   Between every patientI.C. Hand Sanitizing Cream or Foaming Hand Sanitizer on the way into the room. Rub it in until it’s absorbed and dry.
3. 3
   At the sinkWash with I.C. Antibacterial Hand Cleaner when hands are soiled or after the gloves come off, then lotion again before the next pair.
4. 4
   ClosingAfter your last wash, lotion once more before you head home.

Follow your clinic’s infection-control protocol, and use the sanitizers as directed on their labels. Out on farm calls, I.C. Insect Repellent Spray is an EPA-registered IR3535 repellent for mosquitoes and ticks for up to 8 hours.