As per the given government guidelines, we have been using hand sanitizers to avoid the spread of the virus through our hands. For months, we have been using disinfectants and sanitizers to deal with the global crisis of coronavirus. Not only sanitizers have become one of the most bought products for now, but also it has become one of the most common cleaning products. It is not common for us to get a chance to wash our hands with soap and water whenever we want, especially when we are in a public place. As it is important to keep our hands disinfected from the virus, it is highly recommended to use hand sanitizers. But are they really completely safe to use?
Effects of hand sanitizers on your skin:
Well, it is a known fact that hand sanitizers are made up of 60% of alcohol content which can adversely affect your health as well as your skin if you use a lot of hand sanitizers often. Sanitizers can cause skin irritation, due to the presence of triclosan and chlorhexidine in them. Skin’s moisture layer gets completely affected and thus you often feel irritation on your palm. Also, triclosan content in sanitizers may lead to resistance to antibiotics which may increase the chances of infection on your hand. Especially children and teens should use sanitizers in the limit as it can affect their skin leading to dry and broken skin and they even might mistakenly have something from their hand without washing off the hand sanitizer. Excessive use of sanitizers even kills the good bacteria that is good for your body, thus many doctors advised using soap and water over sanitizers. There is a common myth believed by people that hand sanitizers can remove dirt and soil from their hands. But it cannot. If your hand is dirty with soil, hand sanitizers will be very less effective and would not be able to kill the virus. As per CDC’s statement, children are particularly at higher risks of ingesting hand sanitizers and thus extra care should be taken. Excessive ingestion of hand sanitizers can even lead to alcohol poisoning.
Effective use of hand sanitizers against covid:
Indeed, hand sanitizers can be used as a good source to kill the virus and germs on your hands. Not only that, but also using sanitizers on packages, goods, or any object that comes from outside can help to clean them and disinfect them. It helps prevent the spread of the virus and it is often advised by researchers to use a sanitizer that has at least 60% of alcohol like ethanol or ethyl alcohol. It is best to avoid sanitizers that are labeled as alcohol-free. Whenever we step outside the house, it is advisable to carry a sanitizer with us as it indeed becomes hard to not touch anything when you are in a public place especially while traveling. If used in the limit, anything is always good, and the same goes for hand sanitizers too.
