Table 4.

Antiseptic Skin Preparations²¹

Antiseptic	Mechanism of Action	Antimicrobial Coverage	Onset	Application	Duration	Examples
Aqueous-iodophor	Causes protein damage and DNA damage	Gram positive, gram negative, fungi, viruses	Intermediate	2-step scrub and paint	2 h	Betadine Scrub Care
Aqueous-CHG	Disrupts membrane	Gram positive, gram negative, fungi, viruses	Intermediate	2-step scrub and dry, repeat	6 h	Hibiclens
Alcohol-iodophor	Denatures protein and causes DNA damage	Gram negative	Rapid	1-step paint, dry time of 3 min in hairless areas	48 h	DuraPrep
					96 h	Prevail-FX
Alcohol-CHG	Denatures protein and disrupts membrane	Gram negative	Rapid	30 s or 2 min, dry time of 3 min in hairless areas	48 h	ChloraPrep

CHG, chlorhexidine gluconate.