Can we talk about how people keep using hydrogen peroxide on cuts they should not

I was helping my neighbor patch up her kid's scraped knee the other day after he fell off his bike. She grabbed the brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide from her bathroom and poured it right on the open wound. I had to stop her because that stuff actually damages healthy tissue and can slow down healing. Dentists stopped using it for mouth wounds years ago for the same reason. Soap and water or saline is what you want for cleaning most cuts and scrapes. I see this mistake all the time at work when patients tell me how they treat their kids' injuries at home. Has anyone else noticed how many people still think bubbling foam means it's working?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_simon1d ago

Soap and warm water has always done the job for me and my kids. My grandmother swore by hydrogen peroxide for everything, but switching to a gentle rinse made cuts heal way faster with less scarring. That fizzy reaction is just it breaking down blood and tissue, not a sign of anything good happening.

robin5911d ago

A buddy of mine used peroxide once and that cut took forever to heal. @the_simon is right.

max_torres441d ago

My dad used to pour whiskey on his fishing cuts and called it "sterilizing" ... man that had to hurt worse than the actual gash.