Is using hand sanitiser to beat coronavirus RUINING your skin?

As fears of a serious coronavirus outbreak in the UK spread, many of us are taking appropriate precautions by stocking up on hand sanitiser and applying it liberally throughout the day.

There have now been at least 39 confirmed cases of the disease – known as Covid 19 – in the UK, including a secondary school pupil in Devon, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said a serious outbreak in the spring was ‘highly likely’.

Government advice is to wash your hands regularly with soap and hot water, but there’s been a surge in hand sanitisers sales with people using it as a back up when they’re on the move.

OCADO has sold out of its anti-bacterial gels, with increasing numbers of people putting in large orders, while some Boots shops are limiting customers to buying two bottles each and have empty shelves.

The NHS says that to kill most viruses, a hand sanitiser requires at least 60 per cent alcohol content. Viruses are tougher to kill than bacteria, however coronavirus is more susceptible to alcohol than norovirus.

In addition to not being the perfect solution, is repeated use of harsh formulas containing alcohol having an impact on your skin?

Emma Coleman, a dermatology practitioner and nurse with 20 years experience in the NHS, warns the harsh ingredients in some hand gels can alter the skin’s barrier function and trigger allergic reactions.

Here Emma, who now works out of Kent and at 10 Harley Street in London, shares her advice for keeping your hands both healthy and clean with FEMAIL.

As fears of a serious coronavirus outbreak in the UK spread, many of us are taking appropriate precautions by stocking up on hand sanitiser and applying it liberally throughout the day – but what impact does repeated use have on our skin?

Risk of allergic dermatitis

If someone is run down and their skin is a bit sensitive anyway, there’s normally a number of factors that will lead to this, but sometimes the use of the alcohol hand gel can push skin over the edge.

A lot of the ingredients in standard alcohol sanitiser that we buy off the shelves can be quite astringent.

Most of them contain ethyl alcohol (ethanol) or something similar, which is obviously going to kill the bacteria on the surface of the hands.

There’s always a risk of allergic dermatitis forming – which is a red prickly-looking rash. This is because the use of the hand gel is going to change the surface microflora of the skin in some way, and in some people that could lead to an allergic reaction. It may just lead to outbreaks of eczema as well.

Alter the skin’s barrier function

The skin barrier has a certain permeability when it’s balanced, and part of its structure is oil, ceramides, which are kind of fatty, which maintains skin integrity.

If that’s compromised with a dermatitis break out, or if the skin starts to become cracked with the use of the hand gel, that would mean that in some way, the structure or permeability has been compromised, or put under stress.

Moisturise before applying hand gel

‘Using moisturiser after the sanitiser would compromise its effectiveness,’ says Emma.

‘I would recommend a combination. If you were going to use the hand cream in the day, I would wash hands, moisturise, then use sanitiser over the top, in that order.

Emma also suggests carrying a pair of gloves, although this has not been suggested as part of official government advice.

‘If people were having a reaction to the hand gel, they could always carry disposable gloves. That way they’re still protecting themselves from the virus,’ she said.

You can get hypoallergenic gloves – it will probably look a bit strange, but at the end of the day, it’s safety.’

Official advice remains that washing your hands with soap and water is the best way to protect against the virus.

In that way it will become extremely reactive to the product being put on it, and it wouldn’t be advised that you continue using it.

Some hand gels do contain triclosan, an antibacterial compound for added protection. They also often contain artificial fragrance – it could be a combination of any of those things which compromises the skin.

Accelerates visible ageing

In some cases, with certain skin types, hand sanitisers can boost the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, thereby making the skin look older.

The darker Fitzpatrick skin types on the scale can tolerate a lot more because they have more melanin in them naturally, they generally age better anyway.

But very pale skins are always going to struggle a bit more with the effects of these products.

It’s always important to keep nourishing the skin with hand cream as much as you’re using the hand sanitiser, especially before you go to bed at night.

Put on a really good, hydrating hand cream after you’ve washed hands; that will help to heal the skin overnight and rejuvenate it.

Bad for your nails

These things are always a combination of factors; if the nails were already quite brittle and in poor condition – perhaps due to someone’s diet, or if they’re undergoing a period of stress, or if they have an autoimmune dermatological disease, whereby in some cases their nails are affected – then absolutely I think using the hand gel could have an impact and make things a bit worse.

Natural products are less effective

Emma says: ‘It’s a bit of a conundrum; there are some natural products out there as well, I know Neal’s Yard does a natural hand sanitiser, and they can be a bit kinder – but they’re probably not as effective.

‘I wouldn’t recommend people use natural products in isolation – and even with standard alcohol hand gels, they normally say you can only use it a certain number of times anyway, and then you have to wash your hands. It’s only going to protect skin from the virus to a certain point.

‘If you’re travelling on the Tube all day long, there’s going to come a point where you’re going to need to wash your hands and do more thorough cleaning.’

But generally speaking, people are rubbing it into their skin, so I would imagine the skin would be more affected, unless they’re actively massaging it into their nails, which I imagine some people will do.

Disruptive to hormones

Just like with any product we put onto our skin, the skin is highly porous and pretty much everything we put in can have an effect. It will go into our blood, and all humans are highly hormonal creatures.

There is some data around – I don’t think the studies are large scale or long term – but it’s like anything in cosmetics; there are certain trials to show that ethanol, which is in the hand gel and other products we put on our skin, can affect oestrogen receptor (ER), which can lead to certain types of cancer, breast cancer for example. But definitely more studies need to be done.

I wouldn’t say that it’s absolutely going to happen to you, but there is evidence behind it.

Also animal studies have shown that ethanol can affect liver function as well. It’s like anything, our bodies try to excrete these kind of things and one of the pathways is through the liver.

Sales of hand sanitiser more than tripled in Britain last month

As worried customers flocked to protect themselves from coronavirus, supermarkets across the UK saw a huge surge in hand sanitiser sales.

Sales soared by 255 per cent during February, according to new data from Kantar Worldpanel. Meanwhile, liquid soap sales increased by seven per cent and household cleaning products rose 10 per cent.

Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: ‘Given the media focus around the outbreak of Covid-19 in February, it’s unsurprising to see shoppers prudently protecting themselves from illness.’

However, it was just part of an overall upward trend, with supermarket sales increasing by 0.7 per cent in the 12 weeks to February 23 – the fastest increase since November last year.

For more information about Emma’s work, visit emmacolemanskin.com