Hydrogen Peroxide, Blanching, and Skin: an Overview

Abstract

For more than a century, hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) has been known as an antiseptic. Three percent H₂O₂ is used in minor wound irrigations, producing oxygen bubbles and transient skin blanching. Many people who use H₂O₂ as an antiseptic are alarmed at this phenomenon. This concise report provides probable mechanisms on how H₂O₂-induced skin blanching is produced.

Keywords::

• Hydrogen peroxide
• Blanching
• Antiseptic
• Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy
• Myogram
• Chromophores
• Depolarization
• Deoxyhemoglobin
• Oxyhemoglobin