YOUR SKIN AND ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURES
HAPPY AS A PIG IN MUD
A pig’s skin is built to defend against harmful bacteria found in mud and other environmental stressors, human skin needs a little more protection.
Over 100 people contracted bacterial infections after competing in a Tough Mudder challenge in Sonoma, California. Tough Mudder holds 5k, 10k, and 15k races across the country in which participants are submerged in pits of muddy water, crawl through mud under barbed wire, and scale muddy hills.
Dr. Henry Chambers, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at San Francisco General Hospital, said mud can house thousands of species of bacteria, so crawling through muddy terrain — especially with cuts and scrapes from obstacles — carries an inherent risk of infection.
Symptoms could indicate a minor illness called Swimmers’ Itch but also a Staph infection or other more serious bacterial infection such as Aeromonas.
After learning of the complaints following last year’s event, the company didn’t inform this year’s participants of a potential risk.
Many participants woke up the day after the race with rashes, bumps on their arms and legs, fever, and nausea.
Many participants indicated that if they had been advised of the risks, they would have prepared differently and taken the necessary steps following the event to reduce exposure.
DERMAGLOVE contacted the organization and offered a solution: racers would receive a skin-barrier protection kit upon arrival. While competing, participants could spray their bodies with a non-toxic, long-lasting body covering formula as an extra layer of skin protection. DERMAGLOVE also suggested adding a final shower-off area that would include a skin-supporting and immune-building hair and body wash, required as participants complete the race. This last step should be enforced as a safety measure to ensure a decontamination process is available for racers to thoroughly remove mud from the body, hair, and private areas quickly and effectively.
Adding these two processes into the event guidelines could have resulted in much better results. Everyone wants to have fun, and this event is wildly popular. This event needs a plan of action that meets today’s skin health and safety requirements.
DERMAGLOVE has suggested an easy proactive skin-health solution by offering racers an extra layer of skin protection during the race with the necessary resources at the event to immediately clean and rehydrate their skin, using specially developed products created to reduce the risk of skin contact contamination while deeply nourishing and replenishing the body for hours with the essential minerals, vitamins, nutrients the body requires to stay clean safe and healthy.
Environmental stressors are all around us, threatening our skin’s natural biome and making way for various skin infections to attack your body. You don’t have to be a pig in mud to be exposed to harmful bacteria. The use of DERMAGLOVE products can protect your skin and add a barrier that moisturizes and supports your body’s natural biome. Making it harder for these pesky infections to affect you.