Winner Medical Co., Ltd
Winner Medical Co., Ltd

Types of Cotton Swabs and Precautions for Their Use

Cotton swabs, also known as wipe sticks. Cotton swabs are small wooden sticks or plastic sticks wrapped with a little sterilized cotton and are slightly larger than matchsticks, mainly used in medical treatment to apply medicine, adsorb pus and blood, etc.


1. Various kinds of cotton swabs, including dust-free cotton swabs, clean cotton swabs, medical cotton swabs and instant cotton swabs


(1) Dust-free wipe sticks and ordinary cotton swabs have a big difference. The material of dust-free wipe stick head is divided into two kinds: sponge head and cloth head, which have both gone through dust-free processing and clean packaging in the clean room, so wipe supplies used in the high-level dust-free environment must reach more than 100 levels, while only wipe cloth and wipe stick can meet the requirements.


(2) Clean swab is the choice in the application of precisely cleaning to eliminate contaminants and keep clean in the special environment of production process. There is low chemical residue content after wiping, flammable, easy to handle, environmentally friendly and harmless. Most of the clean swabs are in the conductive grade to keep the operator and tools grounded. It is suitable for Class 10 cleanroom, and the packaging varies.


(3) Medical swabs are suitable for cleaning and disinfection of skin or trauma.


(4) Instantly applied swab, with the structure of hollow stick storing medicine water, which makes the swab itself with medicine water, featuring instantly open and use, is convenient. It is suitable as a necessary hygiene product for hospitals, families, schools and hotels, and also perfect for use when traveling.


2. The reasonable purchase of cotton swabs


(1) The vast majority of cotton swabs sold in supermarkets are not sterilized and are suitable for ordinary cleaning work such as makeup. If you are dealing with wounds, it is best to use sterile swabs, such as those prescribed by hospitals or purchased from pharmacies.


(2) Among sterile swabs, one is wrapped by yellow paper. The swabs are sterilized by high temperature and pressure, and are usually good for two weeks when unopened. The weather in the south is humid, the wrapping paper is susceptible to moisture, so the shelf life may be shortened to about a week. The other is sterilized by ethylene oxide gas, packaged in plastic bags or sealed in boxes, with a shelf life of about 2 to 3 years.


3. The use precautions of cotton swabs


(1) After using sterile swabs, the outer packaging needs to be sealed, because once the outer packaging is opened, if properly stored, it can remain sterile within 24h, while it is more than 24h, due to airborne bacteria and other contamination, it is no longer sterile.


(2) Disinfection is only to kill pathogenic microorganisms, while sterilization can kill the seeds of bacteria, that is, the spores. There are bacterial spores in swabs. Disinfectant solution can do nothing about it, and even the disinfectant solution may be contaminated. At this time not only it cannot play a disinfection role, but may cause infection, so only sterile cotton swabs can be used in the wound treatment.


(3) Do not place cotton swabs in the ear canal. Removing ear wax with a cotton swab may cause the wax to fall off from its original place and pile up, which is more likely to penetrate deep into the ear canal and block the ear, thus causing pain, hearing problems, tinnitus or dizziness, which may also require medication to resolve if necessary. Moreover, the cotton swab may go too deep and cause the eardrum to rupture.

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