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Review
. 2021 Dec 2;14(12):1253.
doi: 10.3390/ph14121253.

Wound Antiseptics and European Guidelines for Antiseptic Application in Wound Treatment

Zuzanna Łucja Babalska  1 , Marzena Korbecka-Paczkowska  2 , Tomasz M Karpiński  1
Affiliations
Review

Wound Antiseptics and European Guidelines for Antiseptic Application in Wound Treatment

Zuzanna Łucja Babalska et al. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). .

Abstract

Issues arising in wound healing are very common, and chronic wound infections affect approximately 1.5% of the population. The main substances used in wound washing, cleansing and treatment are antiseptics. Today, there are many compounds with a known antiseptic activity. Older antiseptics (e.g., boric acid, ethacridine lactate, potassium permanganate, hydrogen peroxide, iodoform, iodine and dyes) are not recommended for wound treatment due to a number of disadvantages. According to the newest guidelines of the Polish Society for Wound Treatment and the German Consensus on Wound Antisepsis, only the following antiseptics should be taken into account for wound treatment: octenidine (OCT), polihexanide (PHMB), povidone-iodine (PVP-I), sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) and nanosilver. This article provides an overview of the five antiseptics mentioned above, their chemical properties, wound applications, side effects and safety.

Keywords: antisepsis; antiseptics; nanosilver; octenidine; polihexanide; povidone-iodine; sodium hypochlorite; treatment; wounds.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Antiseptics recommended according to the German Consensus and Polish Guidelines for the treatment of specific wounds [28,29,30].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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