The in vitro antimicrobial activity of wound and skin cleansers at nontoxic concentrations.

Objective: To determine in vitro antibacterial activity of commercially available skin, wound, and skin/wound cleansers at cell-safe (nontoxic) concentrations.

Design: Saline and 19 other commercial wound and skin cleansers were evaluated for cytotoxic effects on mouse dermal fibroblasts. Cells were exposed to serial 10-fold dilutions of each cleanser until treatment-induced cytotoxicity was comparable to the baseline cytotoxicity of unexposed control fibroblasts.