Finger cot

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A finger cot (or finger stool) is a device resembling a male condom used to cover the fingers. Finger cots are typically used by kitchen workers and others to cover cuts and open wounds while working, in order to prevent infection and the spread of disease. They are very useful for keeping bandages on an injured finger, especially for activities like typing.

Finger cots are especially important in electronics and areas of industrial manufacturing during handling of sensitive components to prevent contamination by humans or where only protection of the fingers is necessary.

Some people use them in sexual contact, although surgical gloves are probably more common. Finger cots are most often used for fingering of the vagina and anus, and can be effective in reducing the transmission of most STDs (the most notable exceptions are herpes and Human Papilloma Virus). However, latex surgical gloves are generally considered more effective for sexual contact than finger cots, due to the latter item's limited coverage of the finger and the impracticality of having multiple fingers covered by finger cots. In particular, finger cots usually do not cover the web or palm of the hand, allowing fluids to come in contact with skin and therefore potentially cause disease transmission.

Because of their similarity to male condoms, they are also known as finger condoms. There are limits to that similarity, however, as finger cots are made from thicker latex and do not have features that condoms sometimes have for sexual purposes like reservoir tips (which would be wholly unnecessary) and pre-applied lubricant.