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 s ...

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. Skin disinfection may be accomplished with a number of solutions including providone-iodine,

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 sur ...

, alcohol based solutions, and cetrimide. 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 Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (; hu, Semmelweis Ignác Fülöp ; 1 July 1818 – 13 August 1865) was a Hungarian physician and scientist, who was an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures. Described as the "saviour of mothers", he discovered that t ...

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