CAN DISINFECTANTS BE USED AS ANTISEPTICS??

 

This is stupidity! – the first thought that comes in your mind after reading the heading. Of course, no one does that but what would you do if you run out of antiseptics and are really in need of them? Well, you can always make one yourself in cases of emergency.

Let us first see what are antiseptics and what are disinfectants-

Antiseptics:

These are chemical substances that kill or prevent growth of microorganisms and can be applied on living tissues such as cuts and wounds.

Example: Dettol (chloroxylenol + terpieol), Bithionol, Ticture of iodine (2-3% solution in alcohol Iodoform)

Disinfectants:

These are chemical substances that kill microorganisms but cannot be applied on living tissues such as cuts and wounds but can be used as toilet cleaners or glass cleaners, etc.

Example: Chlorine, bithional, iodoform.

Now as you can make out from the example that the components of disinfectants and antiseptics are almost same, you can very well use disinfectants as antiseptics. But not the way they exist or are. You need to first dilute them, i.e., you need to add 2-3 drops of disinfectants to a bucket of water. I know that is an astonishing ratio, but you can always do it in case of an emergency.