Wand Sanitizing Light

[HF63]

Hola,


I am some what allergic to the alcohol in hand sanitizers, Lysol Products, which mainly leads to lots of hand washing. I thought about purchasing one of these sanitizing wands but not sure if the actually work.


Can you share your experiences and thoughts!




Thanks

 

[Sojourner]

Do you mean something like this?
https://www.amazon.com/Steri-Wand-Sanitizing-Sterilizer-Germicidal/dp/B085KSPXGF/

I would be somewhat skeptical that this device could be relied upon to deactivate Covid-19 on your hands as quickly or thoroughly as alcohol-based sanitizer. But, it's probably better than nothing if you can't (or won't) use liquid sanitizer.

Before purchasing, I would check out the specifications to make sure it's a) powerful enough to be effective and b) safe to use regularly on your hands. Strong UV radiation is a known carcinogen that can lead to skin cancer. Personally, I would not use it on my hands, but I would use it on things like my phone, wallet, etc.

 

[HF63]

Sojourner


Does what I was thinking, the idea is not for my hands but for things that I normally touch like cell phones, key boards, door handles etc.


Thanks for the response.

 

[Sunset]

You could buy a tanning bed. Those put out UV light, and are big so you can sterilize a lot of stuff in 1 session.

How about wearing rubber gloves when you want to sanitize things, that way your hands are protected. Thinking the yellow rubber gloves folks used to wash dishes in the sink..

On a really serious note: if you do use a UV light, be sure to wear eye protection as you don't want to blind yourself over repeated exposures.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Sanitizing lights are usually 254nm wavelength, which is not particularly effective against SARS-CoV2, and also can damage your skin and eyes. Look for far-UVC lights, less than 220nm, and you will probably need to use them for 15-30 minutes for them to be effective at protecting you from acquiring COVID-19. A good research paper actually just came out on this: https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMc2004973

 

[Badger]

Those are not recommended for regular use on skin. They pose serious damage and have carcinogenic effects. Used primarily in hospitals to sanitize objects but not necessarily people. The intention is to degrade cell structures (like your skin) and proteins which is why they can be effective on bacteria and viruses. Not something I would like to use on a regular basis when soap is so much more effective, convenient, and less harmful. There is also a time factor depending on the distance from your skin and could take awhile. Since it would be used on your hands it would be more beneficial and inexpensive to wear nitrile gloves. There are many places to buy the nitril gloves like Costco or on line.


Cheers

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Also, don't forget that soap is extremely effective at killing/deactivating the virus, to the point where we have sanitizing wipes, but after the research we have read we opt to use a bowl of soapy water to wipe down plastic, glass, and metal items in our groceries. I've actually used it on thick-skinned produce like apples and cucumbers, too, as they're easy to rinse off thoroughly, but be careful as you don't want to ingest too much soap. Ingesting soap is probably not going to cause more than gastrointestinal distress, but it can be very effective at that!

 

[swakyaby]

Many years ago, I once worked in a medical research laboratory as a tech, culturing Petri dishes of various bacterial colonies. Whenever we wanted to sterilize the colonies, we turned on a UV light in the glass enclosure and left the room. The light would shut off after 10 minutes. We would then check by running samples through an analyzer and confirmed no growth colonies in the UV-treated dishes compared to the non-treated dishes. I don’t recall if we also analyzed for viruses. So I know from that experience that certain UV light for at least 10 minutes is an effective sterilizer. I’m less sure that waving a UV wand for 10 seconds over your car’s steering wheel or your groceries will be effective sterilization.

 

[swakyaby]

I own 2 UV sanitizing devices: a 4 year old toothbrush head UV sanitizer by Philips, and a CPAP equipment sanitizer that I also use for re-using N-95 masks by Lumin.

 

[travelover]

......... I’m less sure that waving a UV wand for 10 seconds over your car’s steering wheel or your groceries will be effective sterilization.

I think to be really effective you need to swallow it.

 

[gamboolman]

The handheld can be good for seeing bugs, creepy crawlies and the stinging lizards-(scorpions )
But do you really want too ?

 

[HF63]

In Mexico, I have a black light flash light that we used to find the scorpins and apply some poison in that area it works great. We have lots of them just like in Arizona.