Buyer's Guides
Poorly fitting gloves tear more, get double-gloved and cost more per task. How to size a glove range properly and reduce consumption without reducing protection.
OMS Clinical Team
Product Specialists
Glove spend rarely rises because prices rise. It rises because staff take two gloves instead of one — either because the first tore, or because a thin glove does not feel protective enough. Both are fit and quality problems, and both are fixable at the point of purchase.
Double-gloving is standard practice in some surgical settings. Outside those, it is usually a symptom: a glove that tears on donning, a cuff that rolls, or a material so thin that staff do not trust it. Each of those doubles consumption for the same clinical task.
Examination gloves are sized by palm width. A team stocked only in medium and large will always have staff at both extremes reaching for the wrong size.
| Size | Approx. palm width | Typical share of a mixed team |
|---|---|---|
| XS | Under 70mm | 5–10% |
| S | 70–80mm | 20–25% |
| M | 80–95mm | 35–40% |
| L | 95–110mm | 20–25% |
| XL | Over 110mm | 5–10% |
Buying a slightly better glove that is used once beats buying a cheaper glove that is used twice.
Optimised Medical Supplies stocks nitrile, latex and vinyl examination gloves in XS to XL, all CE or UKCA marked. Talk to our team about sizing a full range for your site.
