You've Been Washing Your Hands Wrong

[Vagabond]

You've Been Washing Your Hands Wrong

Complete with video.



Note to self: Never go to a hospital.

I think I'm going to wash my hands of The New York Times' Health section.

 

[rjblue]

If you are out and about and go to a public washroom, wash your hands before you go - to protect yourself. And then wash afterwards to protect everyone else.

My mom insisted on that when I was a child and it makes sense to me.

 

[PeterG]

When there are paper towels instead of an air-drying machine, I always take the paper towel before I wash my hands. That way I don't get the lever wet. When I go to get a towel and the handle is wet, I hate that my first thought is that the wetness might not be water...

 

[ballettmaus]

When there are paper towels instead of an air-drying machine, I always take the paper towel before I wash my hands. That way I don't get the lever wet. When I go to get a towel and the handle is wet, I hate that my first thought is that the wetness might not be water...

You're not the only one...

 

[CoolGuy]

When there are paper towels instead of an air-drying machine, I always take the paper towel before I wash my hands. That way I don't get the lever wet. When I go to get a towel and the handle is wet, I hate that my first thought is that the wetness might not be water...

Speaking of air-drying machines in bathrooms....

http://arstechnica.com/science/2016...es-most-at-kid-face-height-than-other-dryers/

Clumping the data from all six heights together, the Dyson produced 60 times more plaques than the warm air dryer and 1,300 times more than paper towels. Of the viruses launched by the jet dryer, 70 percent were at the height of a small child’s face.

 

[rjblue]

When there are paper towels instead of an air-drying machine, I always take the paper towel before I wash my hands. That way I don't get the lever wet. When I go to get a towel and the handle is wet, I hate that my first thought is that the wetness might not be water...

Eww, you mean you touch the lever before you wash? I knew there was a reason I use my elbow on that lever instead of touching it! Thank goodness for the motion activated ones.

I don't use the dryers. They are gross and full of germs. I'll just shake my hands and wipe them on my pants.

 

[PeterG]

Eww, you mean you touch the lever before you wash?

With the heel of your hand.

 

[Japanfan]

Well, I'm still alive after a life-time of faulty hand-washing, and hardly ever even get sick.

 

[topaz]

I've always washed my hands with hot soapy water for around 30 seconds(My mom's a nurse and that's how she taught me to do it). Also, I am with Peter G I use paper towels when available and I like to use paper towels to grab the door handle when leaving the bathroom. I particularly like when public restrooms leave a garbage can outside the door or near the door's entrance. That way I can dispose of my paper towels after I grab the door handle.

 

[PDilemma]

Speaking of air-drying machines in bathrooms....

http://arstechnica.com/science/2016...es-most-at-kid-face-height-than-other-dryers/

I just read a better analysis of that study. The test subjects dipped hands in the virus used and then did not wash their hands at all. Presumably anyone using a hand dryer has washed their hands first (or they would not have much need to dry them). That is just the first problem with the study.

Link:

http://www.slate.com/articles/healt...ld_you_use_a_hand_dryer_or_a_paper_towel.html

 

[AxelAnnie]

I have paper towels in all my bathrooms - even and especially the guest bathroom. They aren't pretty, but they are clean. I cringe when I go to someone's home and see that creepy hand towel in the bathroom that may have been there for who knows how long, and used by.............oh the thought!

 

[Spun Silver]

I dont waste thought on this kind of thing other than making modest efforts not to touch public objects (like handrails in the subway) and I am extremely healthy. And when I've been ill, it's had nothing to do with public restrooms. Although I do hate those dryers.

Recently we visited my stepdaughter (a budding pediatrician), her hubby and their new baby. My jaw dropped when she popped in the baby's mouth a pacifier that had just fallen on the floor. She noticed and said, "It will strengthen his immune system."

 

[snowbird]

While on the road a woman found that she needed a ladies' room bad and she pulled into a gas station. The mechanic flipped her the key. Inside, hanging on a nail was a towel so filthy she couldn't bear to be in the same room with it. She charged back into the garage and screamed that the state had outlawed cloth towels ten years previous and the mechanic informed her that the towel was grandfathered because it had been there before the law was passed.

 

[Simone411]

I would suggest to anyone to wash your hands thoroughly before and after you use public bathrooms. Make sure those paper covers are put on the toilet seat before you decide to sit .. or squat above the toilet seat if you have to. Wash your hands as soon as you get home after going to public places whether it's a grocery store, department store or even at a restaurant. If doors don't automatically open in public places and you've used your hands to push them open, wash them as soon as you can. Wash your hands if you've handled money even at your home because money (coins and bills) is the dirtiest thing you could possibly handle.

Do this because you could have NF (Necrotizing Fasciitis) on your hands. If you have a small cut or even a tiny friction burn, carpet burn, pressure sore, etc. don't accidentally touch it with your hands if you've been to public places and done what I've just stated.

If you have a cut anywhere on you (even a small tiny nip of a cut) do not go into the water at the beaches, gulfs, lakes or rivers. Necrotizing Fasciitis (the flesh eating bacteria) is in the waters now.

That is what happened to Aimee Copeland. She had a cut on leg, and fell in a river. The bacteria got in her cut, and she ended up losing both her legs and hands. There was a lady that died from Necrotizing Fasciitis a month before I had it and was admitted into ICU at LSU hospital in Shreveport. She was cleaning a catfish, and her finger got cut on the fin. The bacteria was in her index finger. She ended up losing both of her legs and arms, and then died.

I had a small friction burn on my upper thigh right below my left butt cheek. It was no bigger than an eraser on a pencil. It didn't matter. I had been at a casino playing the slot machines. I went to the restroom there. I went into a stall that a cleaning woman had just come out of. I still used one of those cover papers that you put on the commode seat. I didn't think about washing my hands, though, before I used the bathroom. I accidentally touched my small open wound with my index finger and that's all it took.

My hands had touched my small open wound, and I had played those machines and handled money. I was a very lucky person. I was a survivor of NF. I didn't lose my left leg, but I did lose over 60 percent of the flesh off the back of my left leg. I had to be kept in an induced coma for over two weeks because the doctors had to keep taking me to surgery whenever the bacteria would eat down my leg. I went into Septic shock, and my kidneys shut down twice. They called my family to get to the hospital ASAP because even though they managed to stop the bacteria from spreading any further, they said I was going to die. My kidneys did start working again and the bacteria stopped eating down my leg about 2 inches above the back of my heel. It messed up my Achilles tendon causing me to have inward drop foot (my foot and ankle turned inward). The day I came out of the coma was April 22nd of 2011.

They had wanted to amputate my left leg, but another team of doctors were against it and said they could save my leg. They did manage to save my leg. I also ended up with DVT in my right leg (my good leg). If they would have amputated my left leg, it would have been removed all the way to my hip. That meant that I would have had to have a colostomy bag the rest of my life. God was with me that day because I didn't die and I still had my leg.

The National Necrotizing Fasciitis asked me if they could use the picture of my leg in their latest book. There were already some very graphic pictures of people's legs and arms in the book. It was of the debridement before skin grafts of their legs and arms, and most were then amputated. I allowed them to use the picture since it was a picture of my leg with skin grafts - the aftermath of my leg. Some of my friends have said that it looks like a shark had eaten huge hunks out of my leg! LOL! Yes, I do have a sense of humor about it.

So, it's not just commode seats and bathrooms that you need to watch out for. Bruises and rashes have been associated with NF also. Even a spider bite can cause NF. I have friend that got NF from a spider bite, and he lost a lot of flesh from his left butt cheek.

I know I've shared this before here, but it will be summer before long, and I cannot emphasize enough about going into the waters whether it's the oceans, rivers or lakes if you have a cut anywhere on your body.

I'm sharing again the picture of my left leg. The top of the thigh was where they removed my skin to make the skin grafts for the rest of my leg. The skin grafts actually healed faster than the top of my leg did. It was like having 3rd degree burns when they removed my skin.

This photo is pretty graphic. So look if you can handle it.

Me left leg

@Vagabond thank you for starting this thread. And people, Please do wash your hands thoroughly before and after using the restrooms.

 

[Skittl1321]

I dont waste thought on this kind of thing other than making modest efforts not to touch public objects (like handrails in the subway) and I am extremely healthy. And when I've been ill, it's had nothing to do with public restrooms. Although I do hate those dryers.

Recently we visited my stepdaughter (a budding pediatrician), her hubby and their new baby. My jaw dropped when she popped in the baby's mouth a pacifier that had just fallen on the floor. She noticed and said, "It will strengthen his immune system."

Depends which floor. In her own house- that's pretty common.

(I've noticed this more with children that are not the first baby. First baby it would probably need to be sterilized, second baby, wiped off on the shirt, third baby- whatever.)

 

[PDilemma]

I would suggest to anyone to wash your hands thoroughly before and after you use public bathrooms. Make sure those paper covers are put on the toilet seat before you decide to sit .. or squat above the toilet seat if you have to. Wash your hands as soon as you get home after going to public places whether it's a grocery store, department store or even at a restaurant. If doors don't automatically open in public places and you've used your hands to push them open, wash them as soon as you can. Wash your hands if you've handled money even at your home because money (coins and bills) is the dirtiest thing you could possibly handle.

Do this because you could have NF (Necrotizing Fasciitis) on your hands. If you have a small cut or even a tiny friction burn, carpet burn, pressure sore, etc. don't accidentally touch it with your hands if you've been to public places and done what I've just stated.

If you have a cut anywhere on you (even a small tiny nip of a cut) do not go into the water at the beaches, gulfs, lakes or rivers. Necrotizing Fasciitis (the flesh eating bacteria) is in the waters now.

That is what happened to Aimee Copeland. She had a cut on leg, and fell in a river. The bacteria got in her cut, and she ended up losing both her legs and hands. There was a lady that died from Necrotizing Fasciitis a month before I had it and was admitted into ICU at LSU hospital in Shreveport. She was cleaning a catfish, and her finger got cut on the fin. The bacteria was in her index finger. She ended up losing both of her legs and arms, and then died.

I had a small friction burn on my upper thigh right below my left butt cheek. It was no bigger than an eraser on a pencil. It didn't matter. I had been at a casino playing the slot machines. I went to the restroom there. I went into a stall that a cleaning woman had just come out of. I still used one of those cover papers that you put on the commode seat. I didn't think about washing my hands, though, before I used the bathroom. I accidentally touched my small open wound with my index finger and that's all it took.

My hands had touched my small open wound, and I had played those machines and handled money. I was a very lucky person. I was a survivor of NF. I didn't lose my left leg, but I did lose over 60 percent of the flesh off the back of my left leg. I had to be kept in an induced coma for over two weeks because the doctors had to keep taking me to surgery whenever the bacteria would eat down my leg. I went into Septic shock, and my kidneys shut down twice. They called my family to get to the hospital ASAP because even though they managed to stop the bacteria from spreading any further, they said I was going to die. My kidneys did start working again and the bacteria stopped eating down my leg about 2 inches above the back of my heel. It messed up my Achilles tendon causing me to have inward drop foot (my foot and ankle turned inward). The day I came out of the coma was April 22nd of 2011.

They had wanted to amputate my left leg, but another team of doctors were against it and said they could save my leg. They did manage to save my leg. I also ended up with DVT in my right leg (my good leg). If they would have amputated my left leg, it would have been removed all the way to my hip. That meant that I would have had to have a colostomy bag the rest of my life. God was with me that day because I didn't die and I still had my leg.

The National Necrotizing Fasciitis asked me if they could use the picture of my leg in their latest book. There were already some very graphic pictures of people's legs and arms in the book. It was of the debridement before skin grafts of their legs and arms, and most were then amputated. I allowed them to use the picture since it was a picture of my leg with skin grafts - the aftermath of my leg. Some of my friends have said that it looks like a shark had eaten huge hunks out of my leg! LOL! Yes, I do have a sense of humor about it.

So, it's not just commode seats and bathrooms that you need to watch out for. Bruises and rashes have been associated with NF also. Even a spider bite can cause NF. I have friend that got NF from a spider bite, and he lost a lot of flesh from his left butt cheek.

I know I've shared this before here, but it will be summer before long, and I cannot emphasize enough about going into the waters whether it's the oceans, rivers or lakes if you have a cut anywhere on your body.

I'm sharing again the picture of my left leg. The top of the thigh was where they removed my skin to make the skin grafts for the rest of my leg. The skin grafts actually healed faster than the top of my leg did. It was like having 3rd degree burns when they removed my skin.

This photo is pretty graphic. So look if you can handle it.

Me left leg

@Vagabond thank you for starting this thread. And people, Please do wash your hands thoroughly before and after using the restrooms.

I am sorry for what you went through, but the reality is that NF, according the Centers for Disease Control, affects about 750 Americans per year and the majority of them have an underlying contributing conditions that have weakened the immune system. This kind of OCD germaphobe behavior is not necessary for everyone all the time nor is it healthy.

As was already noted, study after study is finding that we are too clean and that is contributing to a rise in allergies and weak immunity to disease.

(BTW...you are more likely to get cancer from frequent heartburn than you are to contract necrotizing fasciitis from not washing your hands BEORE you pee).

 

[Simone411]

I am sorry for what you went through, but the reality is that NF, according the Centers for Disease Control, affects about 750 Americans per year and the majority of them have an underlying contributing conditions that have weakened the immune system. This kind of OCD germaphobe behavior is not necessary for everyone all the time nor is it healthy.

As was already noted, study after study is finding that we are too clean and that is contributing to a rise in allergies and weak immunity to disease.

(BTW...you are more likely to get cancer from frequent heartburn than you are to contract necrotizing fasciitis from not washing your hands BEORE you pee).

Thanks for that. I've heard that before, but I had no underlying disease or condition and my immune system was fine. Some of the research on NF has indicated that healthy individuals at any age can also get NF. As a matter of fact no one is immune from NF. It can enter into an open wound or cut, and a lot of times, that's how it enters the body.

Here is more info at the NF foundation: You're partially correct about underlying conditions.

Get the facts

I've always felt that antibacterial soap not only kills the bad bacteria, but it can kill the good bacteria too.

 

[Skittl1321]

I've always felt that antibacterial soap not only kills the bad bacteria, but it can kill the good bacteria too.

Of course it does. All antibiotics do.

I'm also very sorry about what you had to go through, and while I will still continue to wash my hands well, 750 people per year (that's not a death rate...though just going through it sounds like hell) is too low of an incidence rate to be too worried about NF. Something like 40,000 people die of the flu every year, and most people dismiss that as something to be worried about!

 

[Simone411]

Of course it does. All antibiotics do.

I'm also very sorry about what you had to go through, and while I will still continue to wash my hands well, 750 people per year (that's not a death rate...though just going through it sounds like hell) is too low of an incidence rate to be too worried about NF. Something like 40,000 people die of the flu every year, and most people dismiss that as something to be worried about!

According to the statistics, it's increasing per year. There are between 1 and 5 cases of NF caused by Group A strep per 100,000 people per year but the number is increasing now. You can find the statistics on the page for the link I shared. It may not seem like a lot, but it is unknown why the number is increasing.

 

[Simone411]

Okay, my apologies and please forgive me for going overboard regarding this disease. I just don't wish for anyone to ever get NF, and that's why I posted so much about it. I'm finished now. <3

 

[rjblue]

@Simone411 , My niece has a weak immune system, and has had two scary NF infections that were luckily controlled without much damage.

I only wish she would listen to people like you, but she is 21 and refuses to take sensible precautions. Don't apologise. Some people need to listen.

 

[Simone411]

@Simone411 , My niece has a weak immune system, and has had two scary NF infections that were luckily controlled without much damage.

I only wish she would listen to people like you, but she is 21 and refuses to take sensible precautions. Don't apologise. Some people need to listen.

Thanks so much. I'm so glad she came out of it without a lot of damage. God bless her.

 

[floridaice]

I have paper towels in all my bathrooms - even and especially the guest bathroom. They aren't pretty, but they are clean. I cringe when I go to someone's home and see that creepy hand towel in the bathroom that may have been there for who knows how long, and used by.............oh the thought!

especially during a party and that towel is wet from everyone using it

 

[Susan1]

I've always washed my hands with hot soapy water for around 30 seconds(My mom's a nurse and that's how she taught me to do it). Also, I am with Peter G I use paper towels when available and I like to use paper towels to grab the door handle when leaving the bathroom. I particularly like when public restrooms leave a garbage can outside the door or near the door's entrance. That way I can dispose of my paper towels after I grab the door handle.

That has gotten to be the norm practically everywhere I've been in the last few years.

I keep a couple of paper towels in my purse for when there is only an air dryer - to finish drying my hands and to open the door.

 

[Angelskates]

especially during a party and that towel is wet from everyone using it

Drying their clean hands. I'm really not sure what is wrong with that. People are washing their hands, great!

If I'm having a large number of guests, I put a basket of small, clean hand towels and then an empty basket for the used ones, so people can use a dry towel, nit because I think the towels are dirty. Most people still use the main hand towel though, and I don't care at all. What a waste of paper towel, using it in the bathroom.

I've never bothered about any special procedures when using public or other bathrooms, and I have two autoimmune diseases. I think I'm sensible when washing my hands, and I don't think I've ever been sick (or had anyone else become sick) because I'm doing it "wrong".

 

[Wiery]

Okay, my apologies and please forgive me for going overboard regarding this disease. I just don't wish for anyone to ever get NF, and that's why I posted so much about it. I'm finished now. <3

I don't think you went overboard. I had surgery today, and the possibility of infection was definitely on my mind, especially as I saw medical staff and visitors walking around with money in their hands to get breakfast and coffee. There was not a trash can outside the restroom, so I just held on to the paper towel until the nurse wheeled me by a trash can That said, the hospital did a great job with their infection protocol.

 

[madm]

Related to this topic, my daughter in her 20s learned the hard way to shower after going into a hot tub at a rental home at a ski resort. She did not shower after using the hot tub, and days later developed lumps in her lymph nodes in assorted places on her body. She went to the doctor right away and was diagnosed with sepsis and given antibiotics. This disease could have killed her had she not caught it early.

Another friend of my husband's in Alaska is an avid hunter and his bird dog golden retriever (age 3) got a flesh-eating bacteria that consumed most of his left side before vets removed a huge amount of his skin on one side. It was amazing that they were able to cut out all of the infected area and have enough skin left to sew him up. He probably got the bacteria by swimming in rivers and oceans, and who knows if he had an open cut anywhere. Despite lots of analysis, they never diagnosed what bacteria he had.

This whole subject gives me the creeps and is a good reminder to always wash after being in public places. I would never go into a hot tub either if I had a cut of any kind.

 

[rjblue]

That said, the hospital did a great job with their infection protocol.

The lab technicians are the only ones that worry me. They are drawing sample after sample from dozens of very ill people while wearing lab coats that often drag on my skin.

They should roll them up or wear short sleeves. I go disinfect my arm after I leave them.

 

[Xela M]

I dont waste thought on this kind of thing other than making modest efforts not to touch public objects (like handrails in the subway) and I am extremely healthy. And when I've been ill, it's had nothing to do with public restrooms. Although I do hate those dryers.

Recently we visited my stepdaughter (a budding pediatrician), her hubby and their new baby. My jaw dropped when she popped in the baby's mouth a pacifier that had just fallen on the floor. She noticed and said, "It will strengthen his immune system."

That's what the Soviet system believed as well - strengthen the immune system, take babies out in the freezing cold (I used to sleep on my grandma's balcony in subzero temperatures wrapped in a fur coat) and I was never sick as a child and have no allergies.

I think the "latest studied" which tell mothers to mollycoddle their kids actually cause kids to get sick a lot more often.

 

[Japanfan]

I dont waste thought on this kind of thing other than making modest efforts not to touch public objects (like handrails in the subway) and I am extremely healthy.

I think about that kind of thing even less than you.

Recently we visited my stepdaughter (a budding pediatrician), her hubby and their new baby. My jaw dropped when she popped in the baby's mouth a pacifier that had just fallen on the floor. She noticed and said, "It will strengthen his immune system."

There may be so truth to that. I'm so not germ phobic, and (touch wood, so far so good) hardly ever get sick (am 57).