Free skin care kits available to frontline health care workers

You may have seen the DOVE ad called "COURAGE" showing the faces of healthcare workers on the front lines.

The ad was even the topic of discussion during an NPR program called 1A, which is produced by NPR AND WAMU.

“What is interesting is, I think about those pictures I am seeing in the media of those nurses with masks and the burns on their face where they have been wearing the same masks for hours,” said Liz Stokes, with the American Nurses Association as she appeared as a guest on 1A.

She added about the health care workers on the front lines, “They are sweating. And they are underneath this hot PPE (personal protective equipment). And they are just trying to do the very best that they can.”

Health care workers across the country and here in Northern Nevada are finding their faces are irritated and raw after their shift of wearing masks and gloves.

“It is hot. And it is sweaty,” says Dr. Meg Jack, Medical Director with the Emergency Department at Carson Tahoe Hospital. “There is a lot of skin breakdown because of the masks touching our faces all of the time. And especially when we use the N95 quite a bit sealed to your face. So, there are a lot of different rashes we are seeing in the emergency department,” she says.

Nevada Center for Dermatology’s Dr. Billie Casse says in the COVID-19 pandemic, this was something she could address.

With the help of skin care manufacturers which do business with the office, she put together kits for any health care worker on the front lines--along with instructions on how to treat face, hands, and even ear irritation.

“How to repair that skin, and protect that skin,” says Dr. Casse. “And then the following, when they are going back into that shift, what should they do. As far as not wearing makeup not wearing jewelry. Applying certain products that I am recommending for the skin,” she says.

Dr. Casse called the three manufacturers the office works with, and it only took one week to get the materials needed to put the kits together.

The kits are free to any frontline health care worker who wants one. But there is a limited supply.

Dr. Jack says her colleagues appreciate the skin care packages as it is one less side effect of their jobs these days. And they can treat the skin problems effectively.

Dr. Casse has also put together a list and instructions for other individuals who are working on the front lines in grocery stores or post offices.

For more information, visit the

.