# What antiseptic is better, peroxide or alcohol? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 5, 2006, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195 "2006-03-05T23:52:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spongemom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Spongemom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spongemom)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2006, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195/21 "2006-03-08T20:24:39Z")
I always thought alcohol was better at killing germs than peroxide. You know, “The burn means it’s working!” and all. I still would have probably just used the alcohol was right next to the sink instead of going all the way to the other room for the peroxide though, to avoid having to mop the blood drips off the floor. They aren’t that deep, **DrDeth** , just messy. Thanks for the concern, though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195/22 "2006-03-09T00:11:56Z")
I’'m just thinking about[Betadine.](http://www.pharma.com/html/Our_products/Betadine_Brand_Antibiotics.htm) When we were in a “hazardous environment” on Kwajalein, they just gave us big bottles of this for free. I know I’m going outside the parameters of your OP, but this stuff was supposed to be pretty good at disinfecting. It sure worked for us, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195/23 "2006-03-09T00:30:50Z")
> [@Spongemom](#): > > Burned like a son of a bitch, but it helped rid the paranoia of getting cat scratch fever. I wonder if I’m the only one who just now learned that that’s a real disease and not just a Ted Nugent song. ---
**Author:** ![Spongemom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Spongemom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spongemom)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195/24 "2006-03-09T19:02:23Z")
> [@riker1384](#): > > I wonder if I’m the only one who just now learned that that’s a real disease and not just a Ted Nugent song. I just found that out not too long ago myself. I used to think that phrase meant something about really great sex. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195/25 "2006-03-09T19:24:11Z")
> [@riker1384](#): > > I wonder if I’m the only one who just now learned that that’s a real disease and not just a Ted Nugent song. I thought it was just a hip phrase before this thread. b.t.w. for Oral administarion I think alcohol is better 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195/26 "2006-03-09T20:49:09Z")
Oh, and also, I think the reason that Iodine stings so much is that it’s a tincture of Iodine, meaning that it’s dissolved in alcohol, so it’s as much the alcohol that’s causing the burn as it is the Iodine. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195/27 "2006-03-09T21:53:03Z")
> [@riker1384](#): > > I wonder if I’m the only one who just now learned that that’s a real disease and not just a Ted Nugent song. Indeed. My kitty got all evil one day and mauled my dad- he ended up with cat scratch fever. Funny though, the cat scratches me all the live long day (it’s his favorite past time) and I’m perfectly fine. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195/28 "2006-03-23T05:30:25Z")
Wow, good thing I remembered having read this thread. I was just slicing a large onion, when it slipped, and I wound up slicing my index finger instead. I’ve been putting pressure on it for almost an hour now, and I think the bleeding has stopped (yes, I’m typing with one hand). Being a big wus, I’m gonna forego the alcohol, and use H2O2. I might even have a tube of Neosporin somewhere. Thanks, guys. We’re not just fighting ignorance, we’re fighting infection. ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195/29 "2006-03-23T10:15:58Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Oh, but if you have Mercurachrome, don’t use it. I was just thinking about this stuff the other day. I used to get painted with the stuff every time I skinned my knee. What’s wrong with the stuff? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195/30 "2006-03-23T10:29:31Z")
> [@Spongemom](#): > > What a perfect thread to come across - I have massive cat scratches and bites up and down my arm from a psychotic feline that came in the clinic today. > > I scrubbed it all with soap and warm water, then dabbed alcohol everywhere. I would say it was this treatment of the cat which led to your injuries, all right 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195/31 "2006-03-23T15:26:09Z")
> [@chique](#): > > I was just thinking about this stuff the other day. I used to get painted with the stuff every time I skinned my knee. What’s wrong with the stuff? It’s Mercury based. \*\*Bad. \*\* In fact, don’t pour it down the sink or put it in the trash, it’s HazMat. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195/32 "2006-03-23T18:40:56Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > It’s Mercury based. \*\*Bad. \*\* In fact, don’t pour it down the sink or put it in the trash, it’s HazMat. Yeah, I remember my mother dabbing that stuff all over my skinned knees, too. It’s a wonder I made it this far and lived. I grew up in the era of no cars seats for little kids, and we hardly ever wore seat belts. Every school I went to eventually had to have asbestos removed from it (after I left, of course), and the house I grew up in had asbestos tiles in the basement - the people who bought it from my mother had to have it removed. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195/33 "2006-03-23T18:57:46Z")
> [@riker1384](#): > > I wonder if I’m the only one who just now learned that that’s a real disease and not just a Ted Nugent song. Nope, I knew it was a real disease ever since I got it when I was 11. It’s no picnic, especially when it goes misdiagnosed (probably because it’s so uncommon) as a benign tumor for several moths before it finally causes you so much pain you can’t walk and have togo in for emergency surgey (for those not familiar with the disease, it often (always?) causes a lymph node to swell up due to infection. In my case, it was one of the lymph nodes in my groin.)) Two surgeries, a few days in the hospital, and a regiment of antibiotics later, I was all better, but it was not a fun few months. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195/34 "2006-03-24T02:37:57Z")
Cat scratch fever? :eek: The things one learns on the SDMB. I used to think it was a book title. (cheesy SF, by the way) The furry bastards left my thighs all over scratches when they were little and trying to learn how to jump up. I _still_ have a couple of scars, and it’s been over a year. ---
**Author:** ![BoringDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@BoringDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoringDad)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195/35 "2006-03-24T04:18:25Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > Every school I went to eventually had to have asbestos removed from it (after I left, of course), and the house I grew up in had asbestos tiles in the basement - the people who bought it from my mother had to have it removed. A little OT but… while you were there at school the asbestos was likely in good conditon and thus no danger to you. The real danger from asbestos is to those who have to disturb it to do work on the things made of or covered in asbestos, not building occupants. Similarly the asbestos floor tile. No danger at all unless you want to pull it up and put down a different floor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-antiseptic-is-better-peroxide-or-alcohol/347195.md?page=1)