Which Wipes Can You Use to Clean a Wound?
Alcohol is known for being one of the most effective disinfectants readily available, so it might be a shock that alcohol can damage wound tissue and isn’t the best choice when cleaning a wound.
In this article, we’ll decrypt what types of first aid wipes you can and can’t use to clean wounds.
What to Do When You Need to Clean a Wound
Cleaning a wound is essential before putting a dressing on. If you don’t clean a wound, you may push bacteria or foreign objects further into the wound and cause more harm.
Make sure your hands and environment are clean before you start to clean a wound. Otherwise, you could risk transferring bacteria to the wound. Wear a pair of disposable gloves if you can. Most first aid kits carry disposable gloves.
A healthcare professional should treat the wound if anything substantial is embedded in it or if something is embedded quite deep. Do not try to pull an embedded object out of a wound or put tweezers into a wound to extract something yourself unless trained to do so.
If the wound is still bleeding, you will need to stop it before putting on a dressing. Do this by putting a wound dressing or a clean cloth over the wound, applying firm pressure, and lifting the wound above heart height if you can. If the bleeding does not stop after a few minutes of doing this, call 111.
Running a wound under cool, clean water or rinsing it with sterile saline wound wash solution is a good way to dislodge dirt gently. You could also use a pair of tweezers to remove small particles from the wound. Read our article Equipment Needed for Wound Dressing to see a complete list of items for wound care.
When to Seek Medical Assistance
Call 111 if:
- The wound doesn’t stop bleeding after you’ve applied firm, consistent pressure for a few minutes.
- The wound is bleeding heavily.
- The wound is very deep, large, or close to an artery.
- The wound looks infected (is red, swollen, hot, hard, and/or has pus coming out of it).
- The injury was the result of a human or animal bite.
- The injury was the result of a laceration on rusty metal.
- The casualty is behaving abnormally (drowsy, confused, vomiting, etc).
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The Best Wipes to Use for Wound Cleaning
You only need to use gentle substances when cleaning a wound. If you only have tap water, this is good enough as long as it is clean. Soak a gauze swab in tap water and lightly squeeze it out. Then, gently pat or swipe the wound and skin around it to remove residual dirt and blood.
Sterile saline cleansing wipes can also be used, and these even further minimise the risk of transferring bacteria. Normal saline solution mimics the body’s blood concentration and is an excellent wound wash because it is safe, gentle, and won't irritate the body’s tissues.
Saline wipes are also ideal for cleaning the healthy skin around a wound so that an adhesive dressing or dressing retention tape sticks down more firmly.
When the wound is thoroughly cleaned, pat it dry with a clean towel or a clean, dry piece of gauze. Do not use any linting material, such as tissue or cotton wool, as fibres could get stuck to the wound bed. Apply a clean dressing to the wound. If you’re not sure which dressing to choose, take a look at our guides, Types of Wound Dressings and A Complete Guide to Wound Dressing.
Can you use antiseptic wipes on open wounds?
You may be wondering can you use disinfectant wipes on wounds? Wipes activated with disinfectant, antiseptics, and antimicrobial substances shouldn’t be used to clean wounds.
In order to be effective at killing bacteria, substances like hydrogen peroxide and sodium hypochlorite would need to be applied in such strong concentrations that they might damage healthy tissue. This could do more harm than good and lead to a longer healing time.
Side effects like skin irritation and dehydration also contribute to longer healing times and patient discomfort if antiseptics and disinfectants are used.
In professional settings, antiseptics and disinfectants or other commercial wound cleaners might be used for wound irrigation, but this needs to be done by a trained person to prevent damage to the tissue. This type of cleaning might be followed with saline irrigation to remove residue.
Can you use alcohol wipes to clean a wound?
Alcohol wipes are impregnated with 70% ethanol or isopropyl alcohol. This is a highly effective concentration for killing bacteria, viruses, and all manner of germs. Alcohol prep pads are used to clean skin before administering an injection or making an incision.
So, can you use alcohol wipes on wounds? Because of their efficiency at killing bacteria cells by breaking down their membranes, alcohol wipes can damage the tissue cells in open wounds. So they’re more harmful than helpful in cleaning wounds.
On top of this, using an alcohol wipe on an open wound would be very painful for the patient. It’s best to opt for an alcohol-free cleansing wipe or a normal saline cleaning wipe. Otherwise, you could just use clean water.
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