Do we really need antibacterial hand sanitizers?What really matters is these

The slogan of “wash your hands frequently” is estimated that everyone’s ears are getting calluses. Compared with everyone, they have also stocked up a lot of antibacterial hand sanitizers, right? But do we really need it?

The convention comes to the conclusion first!

1. There is no need to purchase special antibacterial hand sanitizers. General hand sanitizers and soaps are enough to meet the needs of this period.

2. The most important thing to wash your hands is to fully rub and rinse. It is recommended to read the hand-washing method below!

3. If you are really worried, you can also buy antibacterial hand sanitizer, but don’t use it for a long time, otherwise it will increase the burden on your skin!

4. Disposable hand sanitizer is only for temporary emergency use when it is inconvenient to wash with water.

5. Children and pregnant women should be wary of salicylic acid ingredients when using hand sanitizers. Never buy triclosan and triclocarban ingredients!

Can you buy antibacterial hand sanitizer to effectively sterilize?

Not necessarily!

Let’s take a look at a recent data from the Hong Kong Consumer Council. Among the 35 test samples, 20 are general hand sanitizers, and 15 are antibacterial and sterilizing hand sanitizers.

Among them, there are 8 antibacterial hand sanitizers that claim to achieve 99.9% sterilization effect. In the actual test results, only 2 samples achieved 99.9% effect on the 2 test bacteria.

Dettol is marked on the outer packaging to kill 99.9% of hand bacteria. The results show that although Dettol’s foam sterilization hand sanitizer has a good sterilization performance, in the Escherichia coli sterilization test, the sterilization rate is 97.338%, which does not reach the 99.9% stated on the label. % high standard.

On the contrary, the three samples of general hand sanitizers without antibacterial ingredients have achieved sterilization efficiency of more than 99.5%.

Why is there a situation where the antibacterial hand sanitizer cannot beat the general hand sanitizer?

An associate professor of the Department of Microbiology, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong introduced: Compared with ordinary hand sanitizers, hand sanitizers with antibacterial ingredients can bring very limited benefits.

During hand washing, the most important thing is to rub and rinse well, not to kill germs on the skin.

Hand sanitizers with antibacterial ingredients may add sterilization and antibacterial ingredients. However, effective sterilization requires a certain concentration and time of ingredients. The time for handwashing is short, and these ingredients have been washed away before they have any effect.

Antibacterial hand sanitizer is not as good as thought

Some data show that the long-term use of antibacterial ingredients may do more harm than good. First, the efficacy of antibacterial products is weakened, and second, it may cause damage to the body.

At present, the antibacterial ingredients contained in most antibacterial hand sanitizers are p-chlorometaxylenol or salicylic acid, ethanol, etc. But if you see triclosan and triclocarban in the ingredients, pay attention.

During the course of the study, it was shown that triclosan caused liver cancer and liver fibrosis in mice, while triclocarban had the potential to cause problems including cancer reproductive dysfunction and infertility.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that long-term exposure to personal care products containing triclosan and triclocarban can affect the body’s drug resistance or hormone levels, causing health risks. The emergence of drug resistance, in layman’s terms, is that once the product is used for many times, the sterilization effect of the product will become weaker and weaker.

You might be thinking, is it safe to avoid triclosan and triclocarban and use hand sanitizers with widely available antiseptic ingredients?

The answer is: long-term use of a large number of antibacterial hand sanitizers may cause certain damage to the skin.

Friends who have been washing their hands frequently recently may find that their hands are wrinkled, peeled or even cracked, thinking that it is caused by the dry weather? In fact, it could be your hand sanitizer, especially one that uses salicylic acid as the main ingredient.

Salicylic acid does have antiseptic, antiseptic, analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects, as well as anti-inflammatory, acne-reducing, and oil-controlling effects.

However, salicylic acid also has certain harm to the skin. Long-term use of products with salicylic acid will make the skin more fragile, soft and sensitive.

Especially for younger children, try to touch them as little as possible. According to my country’s “Cosmetic Safety Technical Specifications”, salicylic acid shall not be used in cosmetics for children under 3 years old. In addition, salicylic acid may also have certain harmful effects on the kidneys, liver and spleen of the human body, and pregnant women should avoid using it as much as possible.

In addition to salicylic acid, hand sanitizers with antibacterial effects, common disinfectant ingredients such as alcohol, diclofenac, etc., and even added flavors, pigments and preservatives, long-term use may cause a burden on the skin of the hands.

In the current stage of washing hands every day to prevent the virus and fight against the epidemic, adults should also pay attention to avoiding the long-term use of antibacterial hand sanitizers in large quantities, so as not to cause cracked and sensitive hand skin.

After using antibacterial products, if the skin has itching, rash, cracking, or tingling, you need to stop using it immediately to avoid skin inflammation.

Is using hand sanitizer effective against bacteria?

Recently, many small partners have been paying attention to hand sanitizers, especially products with an alcohol content of about 70%, which can effectively kill the new coronavirus.

But as we mentioned above, the most reliable way to remove bacteria and viruses from your hands is to wash your hands with soap and running water.

Using hand sanitizer is definitely not as effective as running water, and can only be used as an emergency method for washing hands with running water. And it should be noted that if there is obvious dirt on the hands, such as food residue and mud, it will affect the disinfection effect of the hand sanitizer product.

If there are patients with weakened immunity at home, you can consider using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer after washing your hands with general hand sanitizer to assist, enhance the sterilization effect and prevent cross-infection.

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The doctor of the Hong Kong Infectious and Infectious Diseases Medical Association said that some hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes have unknown active ingredients and unknown concentrations of disinfecting ingredients, so it is difficult to evaluate the disinfection efficacy, and the results of in vitro tests in the laboratory do not necessarily guarantee human use. product, the same disinfection efficacy will be obtained.

At present, there are also some non-alcoholic hand sanitizer products on the market. The non-alcoholic hand sanitizer is the most common quaternary amine compound – benzalkonium chloride. The effect of benzalkonium chloride is to inhibit the growth of bacteria and fungi, and its antibacterial ability is higher than It’s slightly lower in alcohol, but has the benefit of being less likely to cause skin sensitivity.

Disposable hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes and other products, unless there is a special indication in the instructions for use, are only limited to the hands, and are not recommended to be used on other parts of the body except the hands. They are not suitable for damaged skin, nor can they be used. For infants under the age of 1, infants are advised to use baby wipes. Eczema patients need to reduce the use of such hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes to avoid skin irritation.

Again, the purpose of hand washing is to remove dirt, organic matter and microorganisms from your hands. When washing hands, the surfactants contained in hand sanitizers, together with flowing water, cooperate with the action of rubbing our hands, which can effectively remove dirt and microorganisms.

Compared with choosing which hand sanitizer and cleaning products, it is more important to learn to use the correct hand washing method and develop good hand washing habits.