Skin disinfection is a process that involves the application of a

disinfectant A disinfectant is a chemical substance or compound used to inactivate or destroy microorganisms on inert surfaces. Disinfection does not necessarily kill all microorganisms, especially resistant bacterial spores; it is less effective than st ...

to reduce levels of

microorganisms A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...

on the skin. Disinfecting both the skin of the patient and the hands of the healthcare providers are an important part of

surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

. Skin disinfection may be accomplished with a number of solutions including

providone-iodine Povidone-iodine (PVP-I), also known as iodopovidone, is an antiseptic used for skin disinfection before and after surgery. It may be used both to disinfect the hands of healthcare providers and the skin of the person they are caring for. It may a ...

chlorhexidine Chlorhexidine (CHX) (commonly known by the salt forms chlorhexidine gluconate and chlorhexidine digluconate (CHG) or chlorhexidine acetate) is a disinfectant and antiseptic that is used for skin disinfection before surgery and to sterilize surg ...

, alcohol based solutions, and

cetrimide Cetrimide, or alkyltrimethylammonium bromide, is an antiseptic which is a mixture of three quaternary ammonium compounds: tetradonium bromide (TTAB or MITMAB), cetrimonium bromide (CTAB), and laurtrimonium bromide (DTAB or LTAB). It was first d ...

. There is strong evidence that

and

denatured alcohol Denatured alcohol (also called methylated spirits in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom; wood spirit; and denatured rectified spirit) is ethanol that has additives to make it poisonous, bad-tasting, foul ...

use to clean skin prior to surgery is better than any other commercially available antiseptic, such as povidone-iodine with alcohol. Its importance in health care was determined by Semmelweis in the 1840s.{{cite book, last1=Maibach, first1=H. I., last2=Aly, first2=Raza, title=Skin Microbiology: Relevance to Clinical Infection, date=2012, publisher=Springer Science & Business Media, isbn=9781461258681, page=Part two, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KPUxBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT232, language=en

References

Skin care