If hand sanitizer kills 99.9% of germs, what stops us from using that all of the time instead of hand washing?

Question

If hand sanitizer kills 99.9% of germs, what stops us from using that all of the time instead of hand washing?

In: Biology

Answer 1

TLDR: Hand sanitizer kills bacteria and viruses but it doesn’t wash it away, so it leaves the dead and living ones on your skin.

Soap and water are actually scientifically proven to be better at killing bacteria and viruses than hand sanitizer.

In addition to killing bacteria and viruses soap traps dirt and fragments of the destroyed virus in tiny bubbles called micelles, which wash away in water. In tandem, some soap molecules disrupt the chemical bonds that allow bacteria, viruses and grime to stick to surfaces, lifting them off the skin.

So while alcohol based hand sanitizers do kill bacteria by breaking down their exteriors, they don’t do nearly as good a job at washing them away from your skin.

Hand sanitizer was invented to be used only when hand washing wasn’t available. But due to it’s popularity and convenience people make the mistake of assuming that it’s better than washing your hands, which it’s not.