The Continued Utility and Viability of Dakin’s Solution in Both High- and Low-resource Settings

Healthcare is expensive and often inaccessible to many. As a result, surgeons must consider simple, less expensiveinterventions when possible. For wound care, an older but quite effective cleaning agent is Dakin’s solution (0.5%sodium hypochlorite), an easily made mixture of 100 milliliters (ml) bleach with 8 teaspoons (tsp) baking soda into agallon of clean water or 25 ml bleach and 2 tsp baking soda into a liter of water. Gauze is then wet with this solution,placed on the wound, and replaced every 24 hours as needed. Our team of surgeons in Haiti and the United Statesis currently using Dakin’s solution for wound care following orthopedic surgery and finds it to be a low-cost, safe, andeffective treatment for post-surgical wound care for both resource-limited and non-resource strained environments.This report aims to update the current literature and encourage the consideration of Dakin’s solution for modernwound care.Level of evidence: III