hydrogen peroxide for wounds? (tumors, clean, cleaning, skin)

[nicolepsy]

i would like everyone's opinion as i have heard both sides and still am not sure. im thinking it may be safer if it is diluted with water? some drs have recommended it use for wound cleaning yet i hear others say it kills tissue.

[riveree]

If you google the words:

hydrogen peroxide wound

You will come up with some articles detailing what hydrogen peroxide does to wounds. In short, yes, it may help to kill the "bad" stuff, but it also kills the good tissue on the edges of the wound (which is why you'll see white-looking tissue after using hydrogen peroxide.....that tissue is dead ).

As I mentioned on another thread, a simple saline solution is your best bet. You can irrigate the wound with saline and then use a triple anotibiotic if you wish.

In the old days, it was recommended that all wounds were sealed up tight to prevent bacteria from entering.

We now know that for many wounds, it is more important to keep them open to the air for proper healing.

So, times change .

If you still want to use hydrogen peroxide, you can dilute it further, but truly, saline is just as effective .

(for pets, Dermachlor might be worth looking into if you have a very nasty wound)

[Turtle]

We never recommend using hydrogen peroxide. Warm water compresses (you can add some betadine or chlorhexidine) use a cloth or gauze and just hold it on the area for a few minutes at a time. For superficial scrapes you can also use neosporin after cleaning.

Obviously if the wound is big/deep/infected, you will need to see a vet.

[nicolepsy]

thank you for your reply. i have never had to use anything or clean any wound on my dog but i was told by an er dr to use hydrogen peroxide (and betadine) on my human child's wound and i wonder why if it kills tissue. one would think if it good enuf for a human then it is good enuf for a dog but still i have no idea.

[irishmom]

Originally Posted by nicolepsy

i would like everyone's opinion as i have heard both sides and still am not sure. im thinking it may be safer if it is diluted with water? some drs have recommended it use for wound cleaning yet i hear others say it kills tissue.

Well for humans the rule is - "If you wouldn't pour it in your eye, don't pour it in an open wound." I would apply the same to animals...tissue is tissue and either use saline solution or just soap and water for a particularly dirty wound. Then use a bit of bacitracin or neosporin on it to prevent infection.

[APBT_Samara]

There are many things which I can recommend for wound care, but peroxide wouldn't be one of them.

Riveree has given some of the best advice IMO. As usual good posting. A saline solution is best for rinsing and betadine is much better then peroxide I think.

[LingLing]

Peroxide produces oxygen radicals that kills bacteria, yeast and other living organisms at wounded sites (like a nuclear bomb). Saline may wash some off but can't eliminate completely. Other antibiotic creams mentioned above are not effective in killing all types of bacteria and yeast infection. Just let you know. Most of the infection can be controlled by antibiotic creams and saline solution wash. If my dog's wound contacted very dirty surface, I will use Hydrogen Peroxide. What if there is MRSA... Kill it first by H2O2.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by LingLing

Saline may wash some off but can't eliminate completely.

In the short time I've been married, my husband has had 2 surgeries to remove growths/tumors. One of them was at least the size of a golfball and it was deep. The way they handle some of those wounds now is to leave them open so they heal from the inside out and they drain.

I was in charge of the daily wound cleaning, and the surgeon (Chief of Surgery at one of our big local hospitals) taught me how to do it himself. He had me use saline only for the wound cleaning - it cleans and sanitizes the wound. He explicitly told me not to use hydrogen peroxide or anything else, a simple saline irrigation would do the trick.

It was very frightening being in charge of these wounds with just some saline and some gauze - but on the follow-ups the surgeon said I did a great job! No infections (and at the time of the first surgery, my husband had gangreen).

So I don't know, it would seem to me that saline can kill off everything that needs to be killed off, and if it doesn't, you can always move on to something stronger.

The hydrogen peroxide we get over the counter, by the way, is waaaay diluted. The actual solution in full strength would do major damage, so I think that says something about it too.

[LingLing]

Saline solution can't kill anything. In laboratory, saline solution used routinely to wash bacteria or mammalian cells. It is a good wash solution. It washes living organisms without causing any damage. Now, why not water? Why the saline solution?

Saline solution contains salt. It is designed to have the same ionic strength as the solution inside mammalian cells (~150mM Na+ ) and in bacteria cells. We have skin that protects us from water damage. Inside our body, let’s say blood cells. The cells inside us are protected by a bilayer lipid membrane. The membrane is not air tight. The nutrients and ions (like salt) are exchanged constantly through membrane. The integrity of the membrane is maintained by the equal ionic strength inside and outside of membrane. If you place blood cells in the water, the blood cells would burst and die.

In your husband’s case, the wound was a clean wound. The surgery was performed under sterile condition. The sole purpose of the wash was to get rid of secretion generated from his body during the wound healing process without damaging any tissue.

Now whether the concentration of Hydrogen Peroxide purchased over the counter has enough strength over the whole spectrum of bacteria and fungi? I don’t know. I have never actually tested the concentration itself. I will if I have time (I have all the necessary tools).

[Ben11]

I am a Dr, and regularly treat wounds. Peroxide is an excellent wound cleaner. I have often used it as part of a regime to cure wounds that other doctors have pronounced incurable. It will burn tissues, but only if used excessively. in the operating room it is still popular for severe wound infections. So called 'wound care experts' have been told that peroxide has been proven to be harmful, and ineffective. This is not fact. I conducted a literature search on this subject in various wound care journals, and found a long running campaign to discredit peroxide, because its not making anybody any money. Some referenced articles state that peroxide is bad for wounds, but when traced back to the source literature which they reference, there is no evidence. The industry just want people to spend $30/day on faddish modern dressings for as long as possible, when they have a wound.