Anyone else not understand the hate for hydrogen peroxide? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) by monovergent@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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A lot of recent medical advice says that hydrogen peroxide in first aid is counterproductive. Of course, what I'm about to say is one person's anecdote. But I find that if I just leave the occasional cut or scrape alone or wash it with soap and water, it'll tend to get a bit inflamed (very locally) and hypersensitive, which is very annoying when it's on my hands. On the other hand, If I just rinse it out and slather some H2O2 on the wound, it kind of chemically "cauterizes" the wound, prevents irritation later on, and heals just as well.

Am I just doing it wrong, or does anyone else find that hydrogen peroxide is good on minor wounds, despite recent medical findings? I don't mean to cast doubt on legitimate medical research, but I'd like to understand why H2O2 seems to work for me when research says it should be counterproductive.

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[-] Stillwater@sh.itjust.works 22 points 18 hours ago

Wasn't aware of this, here's what I find on a search:

The problem with hydrogen peroxide, it may be killing the germs, but it's also killing the healthy tissue in there too ... and that can then cause a larger wound than we would have had otherwise. And quite honestly, that whole process of sterilizing it and killing everything off isn't really necessary. You don't need that. You don't need to make this a completely sterile environment. The body is set up to fight off bacteria and help to heal things, so you're probably doing more harm than good with it.

Simple tap water. It's very simple. If you can just run that wound under tap water for like 5 minutes, 5 to 10 minutes, lukewarm water, just let that water run through it, clean it out, just kind of wash it out. You don't have to spray it on there. It doesn't have to be high pressure. ... Studies have been done looking at that and have shown that works just great, just as well as anything else in terms of getting that wound cleaned out and avoiding infection.

https://healthcare.utah.edu/the-scope/health-library/all/2023/04/should-you-use-hydrogen-peroxide-clean-wound

[-] Krauerking@lemy.lol 7 points 17 hours ago

Yeah, that's my go to for first aid. I actually Cary around saline solution though in my first aid kit for sterility and you just spray it on as needed to wash debris and particulates. People are already in enough pain don't need to burst cell walls that survived as well.

Then it's a out bandaging and replacing and cleaning the area as needed. I'm a big fan of the newer hydrocolloid bandages, even though you don't heal faster it's far more consistent and the whole surface being sticky and absorbing means it can hold more fluid and cover odd size wounds.

this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025

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