Can't use hydrogen peroxide to disinfect

[greyjoy]

I’ve got a bite wound that I’m having a hell of a time trying to sanitize. I have a lighter, so my first idea was to cauterize it with a butter knife, but I can’t "a"ctivate it so I guess that’s not an option. I was pretty happy when I found a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, which says it’s used as a disinfectant, but there’s no option to "a"ctivate or "E"at it.

[Dlightfull]

I’ve got a bite wound that I’m having a hell of a time trying to sanitize. I have a lighter, so my first idea was to cauterize it with a butter knife, but I can’t "a"ctivate it so I guess that’s not an option. I was pretty happy when I found a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, which says it’s used as a disinfectant, but there’s no option to "a"ctivate or "E"at it.

i had the same question few days ago, why can’t i disinfect a wound with hydrogen peroxide?

[Zireael]

I guess it’s an oversight.

[i2amroy]

Actually hydrogen peroxide, despite it’s fizzy properties, is a horrible thing to be pouring on open wounds, and actually increases the chance of getting an infection (regardless of what our parents learned when they were kids). That’s the main reason why you can’t use it directly.

On the other hand I don’t see any problems with adding it as one of the possible disinfectants that you can use to make bandages.

[Pthalocy]

Yeah, sadly, peroxide has a nasty habit of killing the shit out of exposed flesh too. I was explicitly warned not to use it when I got my ears pierced, as you wind up with a layer of white dead skin your body has to get rid of in addition to all the usual scab-forming it does. Dead skin that’s not a scab is just permeable and easily harbours all kinds of shit.

What I find peroxide great for is its ability to temporarily clot blood for really small nicks and scrapes. Sadly, this isn’t effective on a large scale, it’s mostly handy when you’re shaving. Sanitizing equipment for later use (bandaids gotta be clean first, right?), also hell yes.