Precautions for using cotton swabs

Pay attention to the shelf life

Cotton swabs from hospitals are mostly packaged with double-layer paper. This cotton swab is sterilized under high temperature and pressure, and its shelf life is generally two weeks when it is unopened. However, in the humid areas in the south or in the plum rain season in spring, the paper is easy to get damp, which makes bacteria penetrate into the packaging. Therefore, the shelf life of cotton swabs is probably only about one week.

It is important to keep cotton swabs

When storing the cotton swab, ensure that the package is sealed, and pay attention to that the cotton swab should be stored in a room with a relative humidity of no more than 80%, no corrosive gas and good ventilation to avoid high temperature.

Household cotton swabs should not be used for wound disinfection

Generally, families do not use many cotton swabs at ordinary times, and there is no condition to re sterilize the remaining cotton swabs 24 hours after opening. Therefore, it is recommended to use those cotton swabs as ordinary cosmetic cotton swabs or discard them. Do not use them for wound treatment, especially for babies.

Aseptic cotton swabs are necessary for skin disinfection. Once they are contaminated, they may cause wound infection. Some people think that cotton swabs should be stained with alcohol, iodophor and other disinfectants anyway, and some bacteria are not harmful. They do not know that disinfection and sterilization are two different concepts. Disinfection is to kill pathogenic microorganisms on articles; Sterilization is to completely kill all pathogenic and non pathogenic microorganisms, including spores. Sterilization includes disinfection, which cannot replace sterilization. That is to say, although alcohol, iodophor and other disinfectants can kill pathogenic microorganisms, if the cotton swab is not sterile but contains spores and other microorganisms, the disinfectant can do nothing to it, and even the disinfectant will be polluted. Therefore, ensuring the sterility of cotton swabs is an important measure to prevent infection.