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Apocrisiary t1_it77s45 wrote

Reply to comment by regular_modern_girl in Why does alcohol kill bacteria, but not the cells that our bodies are composed of? by Chairman_Mittens

Labtech here, it does also kill cells when you use it to sterilize. Like you mentioned, membranes (since they are unprotected) and wounds and such. Thats where the intens stinging/burning comes from.

Your skin can handle it pretty well though. But if it is punctured, and you use high conevtration alcohol, you will kill the other most layers of cells in the tissue.

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regular_modern_girl t1_it7e5sm wrote

yeah this is why it’s better to use hydrogen peroxide to sterilize wounds rather than IPA or even ethanol (IPA especially tends to make injuries worse, I’ve noticed).

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CompZombie t1_it7kpje wrote

My medic friend tells me hydrogen peroxide is no longer recommended to sterilize wounds because it does too much tissue damage and can slow healing/increase scarring.

I still use it though. Id rather have a scar then infection.

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