Don’t wash your hands of this...

Dr vikas sharma

Instant hand sanitizers are the antiseptic gels and foams that have become popular as a quick way to disinfect hands when soap and water aren’t available. They are quick, portable and convenient. Hand sanitizer comes in gel, foam and liquid formulations. It sounds pretty simple as an alternative to washing your hands with soap and water. However, one needs to look carefully at the label before buying any of these products. 

Check the bottle for active ingredients. It might say ethyl alcohol, ethanol, isopropanol or some other chemical, and those are all fine. But make sure that whichever of those alcohols is listed, its concentration is between 60- 95 per cent. An alcohol concentration under 60 per cent won’t kill microbes. It’s really frightening to think that there are products that contain levels lower than the required 60 per cent and sometimes much lower.

Washing with plain old soap and water should be your first choice. But if you’re stuck between meetings and about to grab lunch at your desk, or just use somebody else’s keyboard or a handshake, using a hand sanitizer before and after could be a really good idea.

How much is good enough 

• Generously rub all sides of your hands with enough gel or foam to get them wet, and rub them together until they are dry. 
• If your hands are dry within 10 or 15 seconds,  you haven’t used enough.

Side effects 

If you are a cleanliness-obsessed germo-phobe, who has made a habit of frequently using hand sanitizer like lotion, you will want to know the dangers as well.

• Using hand sanitizers may actually lower your resistance to diseases by killing good bacteria, which helps protect against bad. 
• Triclosan, the active ingredient in hand sanitizer, can kill off the good bacteria and allow antibiotic resistant bad bacteria to grow.
• Some hand sanitizers have bisphenol as an ingredient, and if used in excess it can be dangerous and lead to hormone disorders, heart disease, infertility and even diabetes.
• Bisphenol also lingers on the skin, so if a person eats right after using sanitizer, he or she would be effectively getting a double dose of the chemical, once through the skin, and the second time by eating it.
• Triclosan in higher quantities can also negatively affect human immune function compromising the immune system. If your hand sanitizer is scented, then it’s likely loaded with toxic chemicals. Hand sanitizers can be useful if you have no soap or water around but if you have the latter then it’s much better to opt for the older option. 

(Dr Sharma is a Chandigarh-based dermatologist)