If you worked in a sterile hood I would assume you had gloves on? To protect both yourself and the sample? If so you were likely also protected from the UV.

As for the “no sunburning = no damage” assumption, sunburning is mostly due to UVB exposure (280-320nm), disinfection UV lamps are usualy low-preassure, meaning they emit 95% at 254nm and very little at higher wavelength (the purple we see is from the remenent visible light). So no sunburning is no guaranty.

You should be fine, it depends on the length of exposure, exposed surface, and your health status. You are exposed to UV all the time under the sun (not as much to UV-C), but with short term exposure you should be fine.

Yeah only my hands were exposed for about 25 minutes

You will find out in 15-20 years.

@martinklvana what do you mean?

nah, you should be fine, joust be more careful in the future, don't make this a habit.

Thanks @bojansarkanj

Ria Sharma -- 15-20 years, that's how long it takes, on average, from a sunburn to a skin cancer.

But I didn't get any symptoms of sunburn

But some of your cells maybe did.

I pray nothing will happen

Don't worry , I did the same thing 3 years ago, I worked for almost 10-15 minutes because someone turned the uv lamp on while the white light was also open so I did not recognize it .. I got stressed like you but my colleague had the same mistake before, even for longer periods and nothing happened for any of us , you need multiple exposures from a strong source, mine was old lamp luckily .. In the new lab the hood doesn't allow you to open the light while uv is open and there is a sign to remind you ... So be careful next time not only with uv but also with every single thing related to lab safety...

If you didn't get a sunburn then you didn't have that much exposure. Don't worry about it.

If you worked in a sterile hood I would assume you had gloves on? To protect both yourself and the sample? If so you were likely also protected from the UV.

As for the “no sunburning = no damage” assumption, sunburning is mostly due to UVB exposure (280-320nm), disinfection UV lamps are usualy low-preassure, meaning they emit 95% at 254nm and very little at higher wavelength (the purple we see is from the remenent visible light). So no sunburning is no guaranty.

Don't worry, you will be fine since there are no signs of redness or burning, especially, only the hands were exposed. As per my knowledge in radiobiology, hands and feet are highly resistant to radiation that's why the dose limit to hands of radiation workers raised up to 500 mSv./ year.

So, just ensure eating food rich in antioxidants and be careful in the future.