can we use methylated spirit to clean injection site?

[niceguy2007]

can we use methylated spirit to clean injection site? is it safe?

[Kalio1]

No, you need to use alcohol.

[Tallahassee]

No!!  Even though Methanol possesses the same appearance, disinfecting, and smell as regular alcohol (Ethanol), it is extremely dangerous to use. 5 ml of methanol may cause blindness, 30 mL (or ~ 1 oz) will kill you.  You may inhale 5 mL during application to your skin, not to mention, "consumption" of methanol through the skin.

Methanol is typically used for technical reasons, since this a common by-product of polymers productions, also it may be produced from the "wood" so to speak, instead from the grain, sugar, etc.

This is why any homeopathic treatments can be very dangerous.  Sometimes methanol (and other dangerous to humans compounds are used as solvents/ extractors...

Be well

[NYgirl]

Use alcohol. That is what we are TOLD to use. Doesn't your meds come with two little wipes in it?

[mremeet]

Inhale a whole 5ml?? I think that would be awfully hard to do wouldn't it? And methylated spirit is mostly ethyl alcohol (drinking alcohol) mixed with some methyl alcohol (wood alcohol) to make it undrinkable. Plus, isopropyl alcohol is also poisonous to ingest (just ask Kitty Dukakis), and yet is safe, appropriate and commonly used as a topical antiseptic.

Preferably I'd use isopropyl or ethyl alcohol, and although I don't know if it's appropriate to use methylated spirits for a topical antiseptic, I definitely don't think it'll kill you via a tiny amount of fume inhalation.

[Tallahassee]

Believe it or not, but, due to less molecular weight, methanol is significantly more volatile and the most poisonous (for the same reason, isopropyl is less volatile).

5 mL is about two drops max...

I don

[mremeet]

Respectfully, 5 ml is not "2 drops max". There are about 20 drops in a ml, so 5 ml is about equivalent to 100 drops. I probably use about 2 or 3 drops of isopropyl in my disinfecting swabs on my (small) injection site (i.e. about 1/10th of a ml). And I might inhale the tiniest fraction of that, really an infinitesimal amount, certainly totaling *much* less than 1/100th of a single ml. I wouldn't choose to use methylated spirits as a disinfectant if I had isopropyl around, but it certainly will disinfect just fine plus you'd only need a few drops to get the job done. I really don't think it would harm anyone, especially considering most of it is ethyl alcohol anyway.

As to the statement that "all your friends on campus" stopped drinking once seeing the light: I had a roommate once many years ago who was a microbiologist. He was a blast to party with, but was a flaming alcoholic. Are you sure "ALL" your biochem friends abstained from drinking forever and ever?? I knew more than a few after that, learning about yeast+sugar and distillation methods, promptly built their own stills. ;)

[crsrph]

5 ml is = 1 teaspoon those are very drops

[Tallahassee]

You are right about the number of drops  - my drops are bigger :)

And you are right about the

[crsrph]

should have been very large drops

[avidreader]

If push comes to shove, you can always wash your hands and the injection site with soap and water--in a pinch, I've done my shot w/out cleaning the site at all. The chances of infection while existing are fairly minimal with a modicum of care.

[avidreader]

If push comes to shove, you can always wash your hands and the injection site with soap and water--in a pinch, I've done my shot w/out cleaning the site at all. The chances of infection while existing are fairly minimal with a modicum of care.