The In Vitro Antimicrobial Activity of Wound and Skin Cleansers at Nontoxic Concentrations

OBJECTIVE: To determine in vitro antibacterial activity of commercially available skin, wound, and skin/wound cleansers at cell-safe (nontoxic) concentrations. DESIGN: Saline and 19 other commercial wound and skin cleansers were evaluated for cytotoxic effects on mouse dermal fibroblasts. Cells were exposed to serial 10-fold dilutions of each cleanser until treatment-induced cytotoxicity was comparable to the baseline cytotoxicity of unexposed control fibroblasts. Antimicrobial ‘‘time-kill’’ kinetics of these test concentrations of cleansers was tested against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. RESULTS: The experimental design allowed calculation of relative cytotoxicity indexes ranging from 0 to 100,000. Shur-Clens Restore Wound Cleanser (ConvaTec, Skillman, New Jersey) and saline were found to be the least toxic (toxicity index: 0); Hibiclens