Facial Hair, PPE and COVID-19

How Has the Increased Use of FFP3 Style Respirators During the COVID-19 Pandemic Affected Hospital Doctor's Facial Hair? Implications for Staff Safety and Welfare.

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT04579627

Acronym

FACIAL HAIR

Enrollment

358

Registered

2020-10-08

Start date

2020-05-14

Completion date

2020-06-08

Last updated

2020-10-08

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

COVID, Safety Issues

Keywords

Facial Hair, Beard, Personal Protective Equipment

Brief summary

An observational cross sectional questionnaire study looking into facial hair of hospital doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how personal protective equipment guidance has affected this.

Detailed description

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)

Interventions

BEHAVIORALQuestionnaire

A single survey questionnaire to staff to report their demographics and facial hair styles between January and April 2020

Study design

Observational model

COHORT

Time perspective

CROSS_SECTIONAL

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Healthy volunteers

Yes

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

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Change in facial hair between January 2020 and during April 2020.	January 2020 and during April 2020.	Our primary outcome measure was change in facial hair between January 2020 (before guidance was circulated in the UK about facial hair), and during April 2020 (after guidance was circulated relating to PPE appropriate facial hair)

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Does facial hair change adhere to the PPE guidance from PHE	January 2020 and during April 2020.	Does facial hair change adhere to the PPE guidance from PHE

Countries

United Kingdom

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026