Can physiological saline be disinfected?

This is an automatically translated article.

The article was professionally consulted with Specialist Doctor I Nguyen Hong Phuc - General Internal Medicine - Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Phu Quoc International General Hospital.
Physiological saline is becoming more and more popular with us. Especially with the current situation of environmental pollution, diseases such as sinusitis, allergic rhinitis are increasingly raging, the effect of physiological saline is known more effectively.

1. What is physiological saline?

Physiological saline has the chemical name of 0.9% Sodium Chloride. In physiological saline solution, containing 0.9% concentration of NaCl and 1 liter of water. This is an isotonic solution with an osmotic pressure approximately equal to that of the human body fluids.
Physiological saline brings a lot of benefits to human health, but this is not a cure. Physiological saline can be used for all ages, including infants, young children and pregnant women.
Saline water is divided into 2 forms:
Form 1: physiological saline is used as a medicine for use in - that is, intravenously injected medicine into the body, also known as sea water. Physiological saline used in infusion is prepared under very strict aseptic conditions, injected intravenously in a large volume. Form 2: physiological saline is used to make medicines for external use such as: eye drops, nose drops, ear drops and as a solution for washing wounds, gargling, throat ...

2. Is physiological saline sterile?

Wound cleaning is the best known effect of physiological saline. With a low salt concentration, less stinging than some other antiseptic solutions, if in case you have bleeding, you can use physiological saline to flush open wounds to wash away dirt and blood stains. ... and then perform the next first aid steps.
In fact, physiological saline (NaCl 0.9%) is used to clean the wound, remove dirt, but has no antiseptic effect. The doctor will use an accompanying antiseptic solution if you want to disinfect, or sometimes not use it if it is not necessary.

3. Effects of physiological saline

Here are some effects of physiological saline, including:
Using physiological saline for eye drops: using physiological saline daily, morning and evening to make eye drops, helping to wash away dirt and germs disease, in order to prevent the spread of pink eye disease ... Eye drops with physiological saline have the effect of helping the eyes to be dry and burning due to using computers, watching TV a lot, using mobile phones or having to operate eyes in a short period of time. long time. You should use salt water specifically for the eyes when using physiological saline for eye drops, with an eye icon drawn on the label of the saline bottle. Do not use physiological saline to rinse your eyes.
Use physiological saline to drop into the ear: you only need to add 1-2 drops of physiological saline to soften earwax before removing earwax due to air pollution and noise. With this method, earwax is removed much easier and cleaner. In case the ear is not too dirty or itchy, you just need to put 1-2 drops of physiological saline, wait for 1-2 minutes and then turn the physiological saline out to clean the ears very effectively. Can help with tinnitus and hearing loss.
Use physiological saline to clean the nose and throat: You can clean your nose and throat in a very simple way by rinsing with physiological saline, before deciding to use drugs. Physiological saline helps to clean the hard scab in the nasal mucosa, wash away mucus in the nose and throat as well as other types of dirt and pollen.
Using physiological saline to rinse your mouth daily helps you to clean your teeth and throat, disinfect, limit the proliferation of harmful bacteria in the oral cavity, reduce sore throat.
Physiological saline also works very well in protecting the nose from inflammation. However, you should not abuse daily use, should only be used when the nose shows signs of congestion, sniffling, runny nose, green pus. Using physiological saline helps prevent nasal discharge and pus from flowing into the throat and bronchi, causing inflammation.
Use physiological saline to rinse your mouth: gargling with physiological saline can help you create a clean oral cavity environment, heal much faster, especially diseases related to the respiratory tract.
Besides protecting our respiratory system, the effect of physiological saline is also one of the solutions to treat acne and exfoliate.
Clean the wound: This is the well-known effect of physiological saline. Use physiological saline to wash away bacteria, dirt ... in open wounds. Physiological saline has no antiseptic effect.
Detoxify the body: It is completely possible to drink physiological saline because it has little salinity. In case you lose a lot of water due to diarrhea, excessive sweating, mild food poisoning, use physiological saline to help detoxify the body quickly by drinking or infusion directly into the vein.
However, when used for infusion, must carefully choose the right type of physiological saline for infusion, not just any physiological saline that can be used. .
The effect of physiological saline on acne skin, dead cells
Due to its ability to control oil and exfoliate, washing your face with physiological saline is an extremely simple and effective acne treatment method. at home. The leading cause of acne is oil. Dirt, sebum will be cleaned, when using physiological saline to wash the face. Acne cannot develop when you have a clean skin, open pores.
Exfoliating dead skin cells with physiological saline is to use physiological salt water in the shower, gently massage on the body area that needs to be exfoliated, this is a simple way to remove dead skin cells. Your skin becomes brighter and smoother because the salt in the solution stimulates blood circulation.

Use as solution for infusion
The requirement to use physiological saline as an infusion solution into the body is very strict. Therefore, not any type of physiological saline should be used for intravenous infusion. In addition, when performing infusion with physiological saline, it is necessary to have the support of medical staff.

4. Note when using physiological saline

Do not arbitrarily prepare a saline solution to wash your eyes by using table salt with water. Because if you use unsafe water, it can be harmful to your eyes. Use physiological saline with clear origin, clear origin, and time to use, especially its use. With dry skin, do not use physiological saline to wash your face Physiological saline does not have an antiseptic effect, only works to clean the wound, so if you want to disinfect the wound, you should consult your doctor. doctor to determine the appropriate type of solution. Sometimes, minor wounds don't need additional antiseptic. Thanks to the body's resistance, the wound after being washed can also heal on its own. Do not use physiological saline to wash the wound to reduce the eyes, nose, ears, throat and vice versa. Source: healthline.com