Hand washing: changes in the skin flora.

Frequent hand washing may result in skin damage and increase the number of microorganisms that colonize the skin. The purpose of this study was to evaluate changes in total flora of healthy and damaged hands that were caused by the use of gloves, soap, and antiseptics. Damaged or healthy hands did not present statistically significant differences (p>.05) in terms of qualitative analysis of epidemiologically important microorganisms; however, washing with water and soap was effective only for healthy hands. American Journal of Infection Control 2007;35:417-20.