Use Savlon Cream to Grow Germs on Wounds (Savlon Antiseptic Cream)

Member Name: DarkLady

Product:	Savlon Antiseptic Cream
Date:	22/09/01 (481 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Has limited application to prevent infection

Disadvantages: Can promote growth of bacteria

A lot of people are increasingly conscious of the fact that our environment is full of bacteria, on our clothes, our skin, the food we eat and in the air. Savlon antiseptic cream is commonly used to prevent infection on cuts and grazes or where the protective barrier of the skin has been breached.
Our bodies come equiped with an immune system, a complex and sensitive mechanism which responds to things like cuts and grazes and acts to prevent infection. In a normal, healthy individual this will help to prevent infection.
When you slather cream, antiseptic or not over a fresh cut or graze you are introducing a material which is foreign to your body, it forms a greasy film over the wound and any bacteria or other harmful things which may be on that wound. If you then cover the wound with a waterproof dressing you are creating a nice, moist environment for wound healing.
Not every bacteria is sensitive to the active ingredients in antiseptic creams, in addition to this blood and tissue fluids, which leak from the wound will affect the concentration of these agents in the layer of cream. The upshot of this is that the savlon cream rapidly becomes a convenient place for bacteria to live and provides them with plenty of food as well. This obviously increases the chances of getting an infected wound. The same is true if the savlon is appplied and then washed off when the dressing is changed, the act of scrubbing savlon off will simply remove the scab and retard the healing process.
If you are a healthy person, young or old with healthy skin then there is no need to use such preparations. Instead simply wash the cut under a running tap, dry thoroughly and apply an adhesive dressing which should be changed regularly. A wound which has become infected is best treated by your doctor or practice nurse
My opinion is based on current hospital wound care policy and is not an indictment of savlon specifically but of antiseptic creams in general.

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