The One Medical Supply Every Home Should Have

To be prudent and to live in an orderly fashion every household in America should have a basic array of medical supplies to effectively deal with any minor health issue that potentially does not require the attention of a physician.

There are lots of supplies that a household could have. There are numerous sizes and brands of bandages, endless supplies of exotic and ordinary ointments, wraps for sprains and other trauma, facial creams, splints and other supplies for broken bones and of course there is the stable of over the counter medications for every conceivable malady known to man, all sold by your local and helpful corner drug store. Actually, the list of what you could have is endless. But if you had to focus on the one most valuable and useful medical supply that every should have; the most needed medical supply that should be present in every home, the first that naturally come to mind are antiseptics.

Why the antiseptic? The reasoning behind this choice is the fact that the most common health issues are wounds and minor traumas, which may or may not involve bleeding. Children are especially susceptible to suffer various wounds and traumas due to frequent falls and outdoor accidents when playing games or climbing a tree.

But the need for antiseptics is not limited to children.  Adults also can experience minor wounds when performing household tasks or when engaging in physical exercise. Although moderate and severe wounds require immediate attention of a doctor, or at least a qualified nurse, minor wounds can be effectively treated at home with antiseptics and bandage application.

The most common complication of a minor wound that involves bleeding is infection caused by bacterial contamination of the wound and extension. Symptoms may include pain, redness, functional impotence of the affected area and swelling. Moreover, if left untreated and not disinfected, the wound can serve as a contamination source for other body parts, and even a general infection, known as sepsis, may occur if the harmful bacteria reach the general blood circulation. Although our body has multiple defense mechanisms, including immune cells, antibodies and scar tissue formation, one should not take the risk of not properly treating a potentially infected wound.

Antiseptics are locally applied solutions that kill the harmful bacteria and disinfect the wound. Examples of good quality antiseptics include alcohol, a hydrogen peroxide solution, an alcohol-iodine solution, also known as tincture of iodine, providone-iodine, also known as Beta dine, and boric acid. The most effective and commonly used antiseptics are iodine-based solutions, especially providone-iodine. This is because Beta dine, unlike other antiseptics, does not induce rapid scar formation, which negatively affects the natural healing process. Also, iodine-based antiseptics compared to other antiseptics have a broad spectrum of anti-bacterial action, which is useful when the source of infection is not clearly established.

So if you had to get only one important medical supply the antiseptic is the choice I’d suggest. But don’t take my word for it. Check out this webpage published by the national center for biotechnology information and genomic information.


[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7704129]