Brown hands from developer

[Erik L]

From personal experience, please wear protection I happily had my hands in chemistry for years, then all of a sudden one day I thought I had leprosy! The skin was flaking right off my hands and hurt like a bitch. Now I won't touch the chemicals at all if I can help it. Just a friendly warning that it can happen to you too
erik

 

[Photo Engineer]

PE: Can built up iodide in film developers used repeatedly contribute to iodine's predictable staining of the skin or is it just not even the same thing?

Iodide in a developer and Iodine in a solution are two different things. Iodide will not stain.

PE

 

[Dave Pritchard]

It's true, I have been trying to get the deadliest chemical known to humans banned for years...dihydrogen monoxide. One day, the US Congress will ban this killer. How dare companies knowingly expose their employees, including myself, to something that kills untold human beings everyday.

Please don't ask Congress to do anything. They might just do it.
Of course there is a large lobby for bottlers of dihydrogen monoxide.

 

[pgomena]

I personally know two people who had allergic reactions to common photo chemicals when we were in school. Dektol was the main culprit. One of them had contact dermatitis on his fingers, the other had severe reactions to developing chemicals. His eyes would matter and swell up any time he entered the printing room. He was forced to finish school using RC paper in an automatic processor. I used to be a "hands-in" guy. I now use gloves.

Peter Gomena

 

[Doremus Scudder]

BetterSense,

I'll try to interject a voice of reason here...

D-23 is just Metol and sodium sulfite, neither of which are very toxic. Having your hands in the developer should not expose you to serious long term health risks (e.g., organ failure, brain damage, etc.). Metol, however is notorious for causing painful contact dermatitis, which can appear suddenly at any time. Some use the chemical for years with no ill effects, then suddenly develop the dermatitis. After developing a sensitivity, even a very slight exposure to the chemical will trigger a reaction. Avoiding the chemical is the only real "cure." Others use the chemical for years and have no problems with dermatitis at all. It is not really known why some people get it and some do not. This seems to be the most significant consideration when using Metol.

D-23 should probably not be turning your hands brown, as PE mentioned above. If it is fresh, the solution is clear, and will only turn brown when oxidized and exhausted or useless. My guess is that you have rough hands or rather porous skin and that you are not washing the developer off effectively. The residual developer on your hands then oxidizes, turning brown; hence the stains. Try washing well with soap as soon as you can after processing and see if that helps.

That said, I too am going to recommend the use of nitrile or vinyl gloves. The former are available at auto and medical supply shops, the latter in restaurant supply shops, in 100-pair Kleenex-style dispenser boxes for cheap... Plus you don't have to toss a pair after each use, they are good for many uses. They should be easy to find in your area.

I use PMK, which is toxic, and have been tray developing with gloves for years. One quickly becomes accustomed to using the gloves. They are thin enough for me to unload film holders almost as easily as with bare hands. For doing a few sheets in a tray daily, they will be easy to use and will certainly fix your skin-staining problem. And, if you wish to use other, more complicated and possibly more toxic developer formulae in the future, you will have the technique down pat.

Some pointers on using the gloves: Get a size that fits snugly without wrinkles at the fingertips. This will ensure maximum dexterity. I don dry gloves before turning out the lights and unloading the filmholders. Chemicals are mixed up before. However, if I'm developing many batches, the gloves stay on for the whole session. I just wash and dry them as I would my hands. I reuse my gloves for three or four sessions. Wash hands with gloves on very well at the end of the session, dry with at clean towel and then pull the gloves off so they end up inside-out. Turn them kind of right-side out, but with the fingers still crumpled up inside the glove and then give each a quick puff of air as if you were blowing up a balloon. This will extend the fingers. Clamp the end and hold the "balloon" up to check for leaks. (It's a good idea to do this with the gloves before you use them again, too.) If a leak is present, discard the glove. Chemicals will get into a leak and be transferred down the line (fixer on fresh film is the real danger here!).

A bit long, but I hope I've convinced you to try gloves.

Best,

Doremus Scudder
www.DoremusScudder.com

 

[railwayman3]

Thanks to Doremus Scudder for that injection of common sense.

We need to keep possible hazards in proportion and there's certainly no need to call the medics if we get a drop of D23 on our finger. Nevertheless (and speaking as someone who has had contact dermatitis) it's just dumb not to take sensible precautions and use gloves when they are so readily and cheaply available. (Or just keep your fingers out of the solutions.)

We know a bit more about possible hazards these days than the early photographers, and it's simple and easy to take precautions without being paranoid or seeming sissy.

 

[CBG]

... Chemicals are bad ...

All inclusive statements like this make me crazy. This sort of blanket statement gives safety consciousness a bad name.

Some chemicals are good. Some chemicals are bad. Mother earth is made of chemicals. You are made of chemicals. Grandma and apple pie are made of chemicals. Water is a chemical. Then again, cyanide is a chemical too. Good for industrial usage, bad for breathing.

It all depends upon cuntext, usage etc... If you must talk about chemicals, then it would be far better to identify what chemicals the poster is using and give pertinent advise.

... Use gloves.

This is a perfectly appropriate precautionary piece of advise. You don't need to say anything else to justify it.