The most common carriers of diseases are our own hands. Around 80% of infectious diseases are transmitted solely via the hands. Especially during the cold season, the skin on our hands is exposed to considerable stress. Regular hand disinfection combats pathogens, bacteria, viruses, fungi, and yeasts.
Hygienic hand disinfection can kill microorganisms and germs that temporarily colonize the skin flora. It is more effective than ordinary handwashing by massively reducing pathogens.
Although ordinary soaps and washing lotions remove dirt, they neither reliably nor quickly enough inactivate pathogenic germs. Simply washing the hands distributes pathogens but does not completely remove them. Nevertheless, you should not stop washing your hands regularly with soap, but also disinfect your hands. Therefore, make sure to disinfect your hands properly so that your hand hygiene is reliable in everyday life.
Hand disinfectants and disinfectant gels are also very gentle on the skin, as they are usually formulated with highly concentrated alcohols and additional nourishing ingredients.
How to disinfect your hands properly: this is how it’s done
Proper hand disinfection takes practice. The areas most often missed during hand disinfection are the backs of the hands, thumbs and fingertips, wrists, hollows of the palms, and the insides of the fingers. Here is an overview of a suitable rubbing method to ensure that no areas remain untreated:
How to disinfect your hands properly in 6 steps:
- Apply approximately 3 ml to the palm of your hand and rub palm against palm
- Rub palm against the back of the other hand - alternating between both hands
- Rub palm against palm with fingers spread and interlaced
- Rub the backs of the fingers against the opposite palm with the fingers interlaced
- Rub the right thumb in a circular motion in the closed left palm, and vice versa
- Rub in circular motions from one side to the other with closed fingertips in the hollow of the palm (for both hands)
An exposure time of approximately 30 seconds must be observed to reliably kill even more persistent germs. You can then dry off any residue with disposable hand towels.
How to disinfect your hands properly: additional tips & tricks
To get the full effect of the disinfectant, you should pay attention to a few things.
- Do not apply the disinfectant to wet hands, as this dilutes the product and prevents it from achieving its full effect.
- Your hands must be kept moist with the disinfectant throughout the entire rubbing time. Therefore, do not use too little of the product.
- Remove wedding rings, bracelets, wristwatches, and other jewelry, as they can impair the effectiveness of the hand disinfectant by reducing its penetration into the skin pores.
Alcohol-based hand disinfectants - suitable for every skin type
One of the most common questions about alcohol-based disinfectants concerns alcohol’s skin compatibility. However, unlike water and soap, alcohol does not cause any clinically relevant change to the skin’s natural pH value.
The skin-protective properties of natural disinfectants differ depending on the type and concentration of alcohol. This affects their effectiveness and determines whether a disinfectant is virucidal. Which disinfectant you use depends on your individual skin tolerance and personal preferences.
In general, an ethanol-based product for hygienic hand disinfection is recommended for very sensitive patients, such as newborns, toddlers, and patients with respiratory diseases.
The alcohols used in hand disinfectants are responsible for the development of a contact allergy only in very rare cases. When alcohol-based rub-in products are used, the alcohol component evaporates very quickly. Although the important skin lipids are dissolved in the process, they are not removed. The protective layer of skin oils remains intact.
If you want to disinfect your hands properly or other parts of the body, do not use products intended for surface disinfection, as they have a different composition.
How to disinfect your hands properly during the coronavirus pandemic
Especially during the pandemic, proper hand disinfection is essential to protect yourself and others.
Viruses spread through droplet and smear infections via hands and surfaces. For example, droplets produced when coughing or sneezing are transferred from the hand to objects and can survive there for a short time. Although coronaviruses have only limited stability on surfaces, contamination can occur over short periods. This can happen, for example, when you touch door handles or shopping carts. Regularly and properly disinfecting your hands is therefore essential.
You can also protect yourself and others through proper behavior, such as maintaining distance, coughing and sneezing into the crook of your arm, and cleaning frequently used objects with surface disinfectant. In addition, you can prevent the spread of the virus by purchasing and using disposable gloves or a face mask. Always make sure to disinfect your hands properly and take additional measures to protect against viruses.
