Reasoning: Heavy handwashing can dry out your hands, which can lead to cracks forming, which are more vulnerable to infection. You can fight this by applying lotion after washing your hands.
Sources: have experienced dry hands → cuts personally, a dermatologist told me it was a vulnerability.
A discussion / recommendation on handwashing versus sanitizer would be most welcome, I think. I have seen recommendations ranging from “always wash hands if possible, use sanitizer only if handwashing is not possible” to “use hand sanitizer unless your hands are visibly dirty, in which case wash them.”
I am a bit concerned that applying lotion after handwashing is potentially a good way to re-contaminate your hands, unless you and everyone in your household is very careful about how you handle the lotion.
(I seemingly managed to give myself irritant contact dermatitis from overaggressive handwashing after the first few days I started doing it a lot; the backs of my hands became red and painful. I feel like the amount of handwashing it took to cause this was a lot less than I expected. I may have made it worse by using excessively-hot water, but I might also just have unusually sensitive skin.)
CDC advises alcohol based sanitizers at least in clinical settings, IFF your hands are visibly clean—since it’s more effective in that case, and less drying. (Note: it does not help if you have actual bits of dirt on your hands.)
Their advice for healthcare settings is to prefer hand sanitizer, because it’s better at killing germs, it doesn’t dry your skin as much, and you’re more likely to actually use it. https://www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/science/index.html
I’ve heard but have not researched that within the range of water temperature a human being can stand, the temperature isn’t contributing anything to the anti-microbial effects. So colder water for more handwashing or less irritation might be free money.
I thought this too, and then I read that coronavirus is an “enveloped virus” whose coating can actually be basically dissolved by soap & scrubbing:
PSA for non-science folks: Wonder why everyone is emphasizing hand washing? Sounds banal, but soap really IS an amazing weapon that we all have in our homes. This is because coronavirus is an “enveloped” virus, which means that it has an outer lipid membrane layer. Basically, it’s surrounded by a fat layer. Washing your hands with soap and water has the ability to “dissolve” this greasy fatty layer and kill the virus. I’m told singing “Happy Birthday” twice is approximately how long we should all be scrubbing our hands with soap.
On reflection, I don’t have a source I deeply trust for this. The quote above is from this tweet by a Johns Hopkins prof. Consider this a jumping off point for further investigation.
It looks like the lipid envelope is a feature of many viruses, including all influenza viruses:
The influenza virion (as the infectious particle is called) is roughly spherical. It is an enveloped virus – that is, the outer layer is a lipid membrane which is taken from the host cell in which the virus multiplies. Inserted into the lipid membrane are ‘spikes’, which are proteins – actually glycoproteins, because they consist of protein linked to sugars – known as HA (hemagglutinin) and NA (neuraminidase). These are the proteins that determine the subtype of influenza virus (A/H1N1, for example).
So I’d think that applying lotion and then, say, opening the bathroom door with lotiony hands will re-contaminate your hands. Doing it just before sitting at your desk for a while or going to bed might be a better time, so your hands can dry when you’re not going to be walking around touching stuff.
I wonder about dryness and its effect on immune cells. Dryness can also kill certain immune cells, which can ultimately lead to a better environment for germs than if you had left the wound moist. My original source for this is a book on historical medicine that I can no longer remember, but a 20 minute literature check finds that modern wound care emphasizes keeping wounds moist (but not too moist, and not in all circumstances), both to prevent infection and promote faster healing:
I could imagine that handwashing is a similarly horseshoe shaped problem- too moist and you increase your hands’ habitability for germs, too dry and you make it easier for germs to permeate your skin.
The German equivalent of Consumer Reports believes this to be the best hand soap product that’s currently on the market in Germany in the class of products that aren’t specifically antibacterial.
For me that means there’s no reason to believe this product is worth at keeping my hands clean. Using soap that’s antibacterial seems to be a move that’s bad for the commons as far as building up antibacterial resistance goes. Do you disagree there and think everyone should use antibacterial soap?
Advice: Apply lotion after washing your hands.
Reasoning: Heavy handwashing can dry out your hands, which can lead to cracks forming, which are more vulnerable to infection. You can fight this by applying lotion after washing your hands.
Sources: have experienced dry hands → cuts personally, a dermatologist told me it was a vulnerability.
Related: CDC recommends washing with warm or cool water as opposed to hot, because hot water doesn’t help more and is more likely to bother your skin. https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-handwashing.html
A discussion / recommendation on handwashing versus sanitizer would be most welcome, I think. I have seen recommendations ranging from “always wash hands if possible, use sanitizer only if handwashing is not possible” to “use hand sanitizer unless your hands are visibly dirty, in which case wash them.”
I am a bit concerned that applying lotion after handwashing is potentially a good way to re-contaminate your hands, unless you and everyone in your household is very careful about how you handle the lotion.
(I seemingly managed to give myself irritant contact dermatitis from overaggressive handwashing after the first few days I started doing it a lot; the backs of my hands became red and painful. I feel like the amount of handwashing it took to cause this was a lot less than I expected. I may have made it worse by using excessively-hot water, but I might also just have unusually sensitive skin.)
CDC advises alcohol based sanitizers at least in clinical settings, IFF your hands are visibly clean—since it’s more effective in that case, and less drying. (Note: it does not help if you have actual bits of dirt on your hands.)
Their advice for healthcare settings is to prefer hand sanitizer, because it’s better at killing germs, it doesn’t dry your skin as much, and you’re more likely to actually use it. https://www.cdc.gov/handhygiene/science/index.html
Their advice for community settings is to prefer soap and water, as far as I can tell because you’re more likely to have stuff on your hands (grease, dirt), and because kids might drink it. https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-hand-sanitizer.html
This coronavirus-specific page seems to treat them interchangeably. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/guidance-prevent-spread.html
A link here would be fantastic!
I’ve heard but have not researched that within the range of water temperature a human being can stand, the temperature isn’t contributing anything to the anti-microbial effects. So colder water for more handwashing or less irritation might be free money.
There’s also hand soap with build-in lotion: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B01G8NH5F0
Lots of products exist, but are you sure that it’s as effective at killing germs, and keeping your hands clean?
Soap doesn’t work by killing germs. It works by detaching them from your skin.
I thought this too, and then I read that coronavirus is an “enveloped virus” whose coating can actually be basically dissolved by soap & scrubbing:
On reflection, I don’t have a source I deeply trust for this. The quote above is from this tweet by a Johns Hopkins prof. Consider this a jumping off point for further investigation.
It looks like the lipid envelope is a feature of many viruses, including all influenza viruses:
source; Wikipedia and the NIH corroborate.
Yes, and that’s why putting lotion on seems obviously counter productive—it’s keeping the skin moist.
The CDC recommends drying hands, because wet hands spread and receive microbes more easily. (Although that’s microbes generally and they’re not sure about disease-causing germs in particular). https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-handwashing.html
So I’d think that applying lotion and then, say, opening the bathroom door with lotiony hands will re-contaminate your hands. Doing it just before sitting at your desk for a while or going to bed might be a better time, so your hands can dry when you’re not going to be walking around touching stuff.
I wonder about dryness and its effect on immune cells. Dryness can also kill certain immune cells, which can ultimately lead to a better environment for germs than if you had left the wound moist. My original source for this is a book on historical medicine that I can no longer remember, but a 20 minute literature check finds that modern wound care emphasizes keeping wounds moist (but not too moist, and not in all circumstances), both to prevent infection and promote faster healing:
Clinical and Financial Advantages of Moist Wound Management
Moisture and healing: beyond the jargon
Formation of the Scab and the Rate of Epithelization of Superficial Wounds in the Skin of the Young Domestic Pig
PREPARING THE WOUND BED 2003: FOCUS ON INFECTION AND INFLAMMATION
I could imagine that handwashing is a similarly horseshoe shaped problem- too moist and you increase your hands’ habitability for germs, too dry and you make it easier for germs to permeate your skin.
The German equivalent of Consumer Reports believes this to be the best hand soap product that’s currently on the market in Germany in the class of products that aren’t specifically antibacterial.
For me that means there’s no reason to believe this product is worth at keeping my hands clean. Using soap that’s antibacterial seems to be a move that’s bad for the commons as far as building up antibacterial resistance goes. Do you disagree there and think everyone should use antibacterial soap?