A Comparison Between Traumatic Wound Infections after Irrigating Them with Tap Water and Normal Saline

Infection is a major factor that postpones wound healing specially in traumatic wounds. Many reports indicate important role of washing solutions on preventing wound infections. Tap water has been used for centuries as a wound cleanser without evidence of adverse effects or associated infection risk. Normal sterile saline is also regarded as the most appropriate and preferred cleansing solution because it is a nontoxic, isotonic solution that does not damage healing tissues. in this study we conducted to evaluate the comparative incidence rate of wound infections following their treatment with normal saline and tap water. In a clinical trial study fresh contaminated traumatic wounds of 600 patients were randomly washed perfectly with either normal saline or tap water and then sutured with a Nylon thread and left without any dressing. All wounds were followed for 1, 3 and 5 days and during each observation classic signs of infection were recorded for each patient. In this study wound infection progressively increased by the days after wound management in both groups and finally 8.3% of wounds washed with tap water and 8.6% of wounds washed with Normal saline showed one or more clinical sign of infection. its incidence rate increased with increase in patient’s age.only In patients who were 30-60 years old, the incidence of wound infection in wounds washed with tap water was greater than those washed with normal saline. in this study there was no significant difference between wound infection in each sex group according to the type of washing solution, but in wounds washed with tap water the incidence rate of wound infection in males was significantly greater than females.In conclusion our findings appear to support the safety and ease of use of tap water in wound cleansing.