Health care workers reveal the sores, bruising, and acne left caused by long shifts wearing PPE while fighting the ongoing pandemic.
When *Nicole takes her mask off after working a 12-hour shift treating COVID-19 patients, she is met not only with exhaustion but a set of skin issues that she’s never had to deal with before: pressure marks on her nose, chaffing on her cheeks, and large cystic pimples all over her face.
“My skin is the worst that it’s been in the last 10 years,” says the Detroit-based registered nurse. “I know it’s from constant personal protective equipment (PPE) usage. My hospital currently has about 880 COVID-19 positive patients, and it’s wearing us all down.”
Nicole is not alone. Viral posts on Instagram and pleas for help on Reddit show that medical staff around the U.S. are experiencing adverse skin effects related to the PPE they must wear while fighting on the front lines of this pandemic.
Constant pressure on skin invites these problems
Experts believe that the consistent breakouts are due to the pressure of the N95 masks pushing on the skin for long hours causing these problems. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), N95 masks are tight-fitting respirators that reduce the wearer’s exposure to at least 95 percent of airborne particles.
Orit Markowitz, a board-certified dermatologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, says to think of N95 masks as suction cups that completely cover your nose and mouth, in which no air is coming underneath where the opening is. “The very fine capillaries that are providing all of the oxygen, nutrients, and all the things it needs to be healthy [are collapsing],” she says. “In a way, you’re suffocating the skin, [so it] then starts to break down.” Read more
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