Sunday May 31, 2009

Q; Give atleast one advantage and disadvantage of Chlorhexidine as an antiseptic?


Answer: Chlorhexidine has good residual activity with more than 6 hours once applied. But it has very poor activity against gram-negative bacilli and fungi. Chlohexidine is recommended as an antiseptic before any procedure due to presence of gram-positive (staph. Epidermis) on skin (90%).

Inversely, Betadine (iodophors) has more broader coverage but has inconsistent residual activity. In case if Betadine is used for procedure, it should stays in skin contact for atleast 2/3 minutes - as Iodine inside the complex need some time to get release from the carrier molecule (polyvinylpyrrolidone) to act. Slow release of iodine from carrier molecule is a desired effect as it prolongs the action as well as decrease irritation of skin. (Reason to bring this point is to discourage the practice of wipe betadine after finishing procedure. Residents have been seen to wipe off site after procedure with Saline or ETOH to make procedure look 'clean' but this decreases the antimicrobial effect of Betadine).