Facial Hair, PPE and COVID-19

COVID-19 is a highly contagious virus which has caused a global pandemic. There have been significant health consequences for healthcare workers, which may be related to the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE). Following PPE guidance is a significant health and safety concern, under which facial hair guidance for tight fitting masks falls.

This has implications as FFP3 masks are not the only form of PPE for the face, and this study may highlight a need for employers to diversify which PPE they supply to their employees, such as full hoods if staff need to maintain facial hair for cultural or religious reasons.

As such, facial hair has potential implications for patient safety, but also these have to be balanced with personal or religious reasons for maintaining facial hair. Our study aimed to determine the facial hair styles of hospital doctors, and reasons for maintaining them during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also looked at whether these styles adhered to the PPE guidance set about by Public Health England (PHE)

Inclusion criteria

All hospital doctors working at the main site at Royal Cornwall Hospital between January and April 2020 were included in the study population. This includes all genders and ethnicities.

Exclusion criteria

The principle exclusion criteria were those who did not work at the Royal Cornwall Hospital main site. Also, while not forming part of the exclusion criteria, those who are unable to grow facial hair were excluded from the statistical analyses.