Is using hand sanitizer more effective than washing my hands?

Question

My folks come out of the bathroom without washing their hands and instead, they use hand sanitizer. I told them that using hand santizer dosent wash the dirt off of your hands, It only gets rid of germs. While washing your hands gets rid of dirt, and gives you a nice clean feeling. Am I right?

Answer 1

Washing your hands, as long as you do it with soap and water properly, is best.  It will clean your hands and get rid of bacteria.  Personally I like hand sanitizer best when I'm out and about, making handwashing difficult or impossible sometimes especially when I'm alone with my daughter (she's 1 1/2).  In this instance I think that if your only option is hand sanitizer or not washing at all, the sanitizer is the best option.  Hand sanitizer is also dangerous around small children who might ingest it.

Answer 2

Yes. You must wash your hands with soap and water. Hand sanitizer is just a thing that is supposed to be good for the road, or school and you're about to go to lunch. So, tell them that if they don't wash their hands with the soap and water, tell them you'll make them sit on the couch and watch infomercials!

Answer 3

I was visiting a room in the maternity section of a hospital the last couple of days.. They have a hand sanitizer dispenser on the wall beside a lavatory. There were two signs on the wall. By the sanitizer, it read "wash hands before first use of sanitizer". At the lavatory the sign read "hot water and friction removes germs". This is what they wanted visitors to do before holding the baby.

Some of the nurses would come into the room and wash their hands and use the dispenser before handling the baby . Some would only wash their hands. None used the sanitizer only.

I'll put it this way. If I were invited to someone's home for dinner, I would hope they washed their hands before preparing my meal.

According to the information in the following link, sanitizing seems to be an exercise in futility. Pay particular attention to the end of the second paragraph, where it states:

"research shows that hand sanitizers do not significantly reduce the number of bacteria on the hand and in some cases may potentially increase the amount of bacteria on the hand. "

http://biology.about.com/library/weekly/...

Answer 4

Yes you are right.  Hand sanitizer breaks up the cells that make up bacteria.  If done properly, hand washing washes away dirt and bacteria.  Always wash your hands if possible instead of using sanitizer.

Answer 5

Using hand sanitizer on a regular basis is not a good thing.

More and more microbes are becoming resistant. When you kill 99% of the microrobes on your hand, the resistant 1% will multiply and the sanitizer is less effective. After this cycle is repeated many times, the microbes on your hands are much more resistant and therefore dangerous

Answer 6

No, it doesn't sanitize any better. i agree...It definitely doesn't clean dirt off. :)

Answer 7

No, gross! washing= Sanitize and scrubbed

sanitzier= 1/2 sanitize

Answer 8

I think washing with warm soapy water is better

Answer 9

Yes. Hand sanitizer is not going to get the dirt and grime off, or all the bacteria.