Can you wear medical mask both ways depending if you’re sick? Fact Check
Various online messages purport to show how to correctly wear a medical mask. The messages claim you should wear the mask one way in order to protect yourself and the reverse way to protect others from your germs.
FALSE
Such messages have gained tractions to the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak when an increase in medical masks (surgical masks, face masks) have increased sharply.
Most popularly, the claims assert that you should wear the coloured side of the mask outwards if you are sick and don’t want to infect others, and the white side outwards if you do not want others to infect you.
Examples of the messages are below.
While at the doctors officer today, we were informed by a Nurse the proper way to use a medical mask. I didn’t know about this before. I thought it would be helpful to share, Because I was using them wrong the entire time.
When using a medical mask you’re suppose to use as follows:
Coloured side out if you’re sick and do not want to spread your germs around.
White side out (this is the filter part) for when you’re not sick and you want to stop germs from getting in.
If we are not ill, the white side should face out to protect micro-organism from environment to come to contact with us.
…
If we have flu, the white side should attach to our face (the color side faces out) to filter the micro-organism not to spread them out to others.
However, such claims are false. Standard medical face masks are not designed to be used on either side depending on the purpose. Such masks should be worn on one side only, since each side of the mask serves a particular purpose that would be hampered if worn incorrectly.
A standard face mask is three-ply, meaning it has three layers. The outer layer is typically the coloured layer, and is usually liquid repellent. This helps prevent the wearer from being exposed to external liquid and liquid droplets. The middle layer acts as a filter layer to prevent microbes from entering or existing the mask. The third layer, usually the white layer, is usually a liquid absorbent layer to absorb droplets exhaled from the wearers nose and mouth.
As stated above, in most face masks available, the coloured side faces the outside and the white part on the inside.
Determine which side of the mask is the front. The colored side of the mask is usually the front and should face away from you, while the white side touches your face.
Additionally, the World Health Organisation has a video tutorial on using medical face masks here.
If the face mask is worn the wrong way, neither the liquid absorbent side and the liquid repellent side would be performing the correct functions (repelling droplets from the wearer and absorbing droplets from others.)
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Of course this is standard advice for the most commonly used face masks available. If you are in doubt as to the exact instructions for your particular mask, consult the provided instructions.
Despite the sharp influx in the demand for masks, at the time of writing, the World Health Organisation only recommends the need of a mask if you are caring for someone who is suspected of having the COVID-19 disease.
If you are healthy, you only need to wear a mask if you are taking care of a person with suspected 2019-nCoV infection.