# How strong should my drink be before I dump into an open wound? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 3, 2004, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-should-my-drink-be-before-i-dump-into-an-open-wound/222459 "2004-01-03T10:50:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-should-my-drink-be-before-i-dump-into-an-open-wound/222459/1 "2004-01-03T10:50:30Z")
Yeah, I’m pretty sure 190 proof Everclear would suffice in a wilderness antiseptic kind of way, but beer wouldn’t. 80 proof Bacardi sounds fun… one for me, one for the four inch gash in my thigh. But where should I draw the line? ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-should-my-drink-be-before-i-dump-into-an-open-wound/222459/2 "2004-01-03T10:58:10Z")
BTW this is a hypothetical question and I have no open cuts at this time. ---
**Author:** ![CheekyMonkey613](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e480ec/32.png) [@CheekyMonkey613](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheekyMonkey613)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-should-my-drink-be-before-i-dump-into-an-open-wound/222459/3 "2004-01-03T11:24:35Z")
It happened to me once. I was at a very “drunken” festivity, shall we say. When I arrived, one of my friends came up to me and hugged me digging her nails in my neck and drawing blood. It hurt but I didn’t realize I was bleeding. Another friend sees I’m bleeding, and having been quite “consumptuous”, gets the bottle of Jack Daniels and some napkins. Pours it on liberally and dabs the blood away. Not sure what hurt more ~ the scratch or the JD. The next morning, I saw that the long and deep scratches had devellopped scabs which healed rather quickly considering how much blood was on the neck of my sweater (and how much I saw on the napkins). From Jack Daniel’s site: “Tennessee Whiskey • 40-43% alcohol by volume [80-86 proof]” ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-should-my-drink-be-before-i-dump-into-an-open-wound/222459/4 "2004-01-03T11:45:17Z")
For a serious wound, you’re better off using honey. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-should-my-drink-be-before-i-dump-into-an-open-wound/222459/5 "2004-01-03T12:07:32Z")
I don’t often carry honey on my person. Rum and Coke, however, is a different story. I’m a _wild and crazy guy_. To phrase a little more scientifically, what is the minimum percentage of ethanol in water that can be considered an antiseptic? Will sugar affect the germ killing abilities at that level? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-should-my-drink-be-before-i-dump-into-an-open-wound/222459/6 "2004-01-03T13:29:29Z")
Rum was used in the army after a flogging, if the Sharpe TV series is to be believed. The flogged was given a tankard of rum: he was made to drink half and then the rest was poured over his back. ---
**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-should-my-drink-be-before-i-dump-into-an-open-wound/222459/7 "2004-01-03T14:50:02Z")
People who know what they are doing NEVER pour any liquid with a high concentration of alcohol into an open wound because alcohol is toxic to unprotected tissues. It is potentially as destructive as cauterization with a hot iron (another practice you see in the movies.) You are better off with sterile water. You could probably use liquids such as bottled soft drinks, beer or wine because they are unlikely to harbor any important germs (and the alcohol concentrations in beer and wine are relatively low) but I have never seen any research on this. ---
**Author:** ![county](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@county](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/county)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-should-my-drink-be-before-i-dump-into-an-open-wound/222459/8 "2004-01-03T14:55:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Yeah \* > \*\*People who know what they are doing NEVER pour any liquid with a high concentration of alcohol into an open wound because alcohol is toxic to unprotected tissues. It is potentially as destructive as cauterization with a hot iron (another practice you see in the movies.) You are better off with sterile water. You could probably use liquids such as bottled soft drinks, beer or wine because they are unlikely to harbor any important germs (and the alcohol concentrations in beer and wine are relatively low) but I have never seen any research on this. \*\* I think he wants to know how much alcohol content needed to kill bacteria. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-should-my-drink-be-before-i-dump-into-an-open-wound/222459/9 "2004-01-03T18:12:59Z")
- - - Drinking alcohol isn’t the right type for that, sorry. … ? Honey? I knew about _sugar_, but it would seem to me that if you were in the wilderness, trying to find _honey_ would only lead to more serious injury… ~ ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-should-my-drink-be-before-i-dump-into-an-open-wound/222459/10 "2004-01-03T18:34:03Z")
IIRC, alcohol works, (kills bacteria), by causing an osmotic imbalance. Therefore, the percentage of alcohol in the liquid is probably important. I suspect that the 70% isopropyl is 70% for this reason. The sugars in honey are too large/complex for bacteria to effectively digest. Honey works as a preventative for bacterial infection, (provided the wound’s already clean), but doesn’t kill bacteria, (except maybe through starvation of those trapped in the honey?) ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-should-my-drink-be-before-i-dump-into-an-open-wound/222459/11 "2004-01-03T18:44:16Z")
My guess is that the threshold is a little above the strength of the strongest non-distilled drinks (wine or beer). As I understand it, you can’t make stronger drinks by fermentation because the organisms responsible for the fermentation cannot survive in it. (I guess that’s yeast, not bacteria, but I’d guess it’s similar.) ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-should-my-drink-be-before-i-dump-into-an-open-wound/222459/12 "2004-01-03T19:01:32Z")
> [@](#): > > [http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/a2z-b.html](http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/a2z-b.html) > > **Ethanol alcohol at 70% is more effective at killing bacteria than at 90 to 100% because the alcohol gets inside the cell better.** Isopropyl alcohol is even more effective at killing bacteria because it is less volatile. Turns out that I did RC. The 70% figure is the optimum strength. Apparently higher, (and preumably lower), strengths would work, but with less efficacy. 70% is the answer. However, whatever you’ve mixed your drink with should have an impact on this as the action is a matter of creating an osmotic imbalance that swells, (and bursts?), the bacteria. Additional solutes, (flavorings, mixers etc), would alter the ability of your drink to perform as an antiseptic, (prob’ly for the worse). PGA w/ (distilled?) water would be the ideal antiseptic drink. It lacks the drinkability of just about every other drink that I can think of, though. I guess that the drink as antiseptic idea isn’t so hot. It’d have to be the best of few alternatives. I think that plain water, though not an antiseptic, would be more effective at promoting would healing. ---
**Author:** ![NotMrKnowItAll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6bbea6/32.png) [@NotMrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NotMrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-should-my-drink-be-before-i-dump-into-an-open-wound/222459/13 "2004-01-03T19:20:09Z")
As an aside, 70% ethanol is what my father used during his entire career as a biologist to preserve specimens. Higher percentages tended to draw water from the specimens and less than 70% caused them to bloat. While visiting him, my son found a dead tree frog (_Hyla Cinerea_), which he had my dad preserve for him. Apart from its dead, dead eyes, it looks nicely preserved to this day. What about washing the wound with a water and Dr. Bonner’s soap. Hikers use that stuff since it’s natural and make for good reading while visiting to lavatree. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-strong-should-my-drink-be-before-i-dump-into-an-open-wound/222459/14 "2004-01-03T19:30:44Z")
> [@](#): > > …You are better off with sterile water… - - - As a matter of factly, once when I had a nasty ear infection, my doc explicitly stated that _ideally_ you shouldn’t use plain water to rinse any wound as it only encourages bacteria growth. ~