Safe permanent makeup: infection prevention

Valentina Malyuga , epidemiologist at Dana Medical LLC

To make the appearance uniquely beautiful, to bring a good mood not only to your clients, but also to those around you who contemplate the results of the work of the masters, to be a real artist, and to improve your financial situation - this is not a complete list of tasks solved in modern beauty studios, clinics, hairdressing salons, spa and beauty salons. But not a single task will be solved if all conditions are not created for complete infectious safety of both customers and employees. How, in fact, can you achieve conditions for guaranteed sanitary and epidemiological well-being in your institution? It's far from easy, but possible! We must not forget that very different people come for beauty. Unfortunately, among them there may be patients or carriers of dangerous infections, even such as HIV infection, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis, not to mention various pustular and fungal diseases. But permanent makeup is associated with a violation of the integrity of the skin, contamination of tools with particles of skin, hair, blood, which does not exclude the possibility of transmission of microorganisms⎼ pathogens of infectious diseases.

Important: schedule

Carrying out disinfection measures in cosmetology in terms of importance and organization of execution does not differ from traditional clinical medicine. It is necessary to create a prevention system that will eliminate the risk of infection for customers, the staff themselves and their loved ones, expand the circle of grateful users and ultimately bring material dividends. The most important link in the complex of preventive measures in beauty industry establishments, as well as in medical institutions, is disinfection and sterilization. Disinfection - the destruction of pathogenic (pathogenic) microorganisms on the routes of transmission from the source of infection to a healthy organism. Sterilization - the destruction of all types and forms (including spores) of microorganisms on environmental objects (including instruments that, touching the skin, mucous membrane, can cause damage to them). Preventive disinfection is carried out in the institution during the current and general cleaning. It includes disinfection of the surfaces of the room, furniture, equipment, air, tools, linen, overalls and other items used in the work. In particular, the current wet cleaning of premises with the use of disinfectants is carried out before the start of the work shift (or at the end) daily, and the frequency of general wet cleaning with the use of disinfectants depends on the purpose of the premises and the manipulations that are performed in it. Manipulation, work rooms, procedural rooms, where cosmetic surgeries and procedures are performed, during which the integrity of the skin, mucous membranes is violated (or the possibility of violation is not ruled out) should be subjected to general cleaning at least once a week. Other premises (including auxiliary ones) are cleaned in a similar way at least once a month. During general cleaning, walls, floors, baseboards, doors, windows, furniture and equipment are washed and treated with disinfectant solutions.

Selection rules

To ensure high-quality, effective disinfection, a number of conditions must be met. One of the necessary factors is the correct choice of disinfectant. When choosing disinfectants, the consumer can directly evaluate only some indicators. Namely:

• pleasant or at least neutral, non-irritating odor;
• good washability from processed objects, surfaces;
• does the tool damage the structural materials of the treated surfaces;
• whether it is soluble in water.

But here are other, very important properties of disinfectants - those that cannot be ignored when choosing, a person who does not have special knowledge or does not have special equipment cannot evaluate.

The disinfectant must:

• have a wide spectrum of antimicrobial activity and destroy pathogens of infectious diseases;
• be non-toxic to humans (some chemicals used in the production of disinfectants can cause allergies, irritation of the respiratory tract, accumulate in the body and manifest as liver and kidney pathologies even after many years);
• have good environmental performance (that is, break down to safe components);
• be compatible with the detergent components used in the institution (after all, some detergents weaken or even completely inactivate the disinfecting effect of disinfectants).

Antiseptics

Separately, I will touch on antiseptics⎼ disinfectants for hands and skin. The staff feels the impact of these products with their own skin, for example, you can evaluate the smell of the product. But it is impossible to see how many microbes are left on the hands after treatment with the agent without a microscope. Today, both science and practice know for sure that fast-acting antiseptics, and these are products based on alcohols, iodophors (iodine in combination with an organic component), polyguanidines, destroy many pathogenic microorganisms literally in a matter of moments. The conditions that guarantee the result are a sufficient amount of the product to completely wet the surface of the hand, compliance with the processing technique. An additional advantage of disinfectants and antiseptics is their prolonged antimicrobial action. Indeed, in such cases, after general cleaning, the microbial contamination of the premises remains at low numbers for quite a long time. Today, more than 400 types of disinfectants and antiseptics have already been registered in Ukraine. In order to make the right choice, you need to familiarize yourself with the properties of the proposed drugs. And they depend on the active substance - the main component in the composition of the drug. And although now most drugs are combined (that is, they combine two or more components), nevertheless, the main properties of the drug are determined precisely by the component, the mass fraction of which is the largest in the composition.

Types and norms

Depending on the active substance, drugs are divided into several main groups. Among them are those that contain halogens (chlorine, iodine, bromine); preparations based on the action of active oxygen (containing oxidizing agents or peroxides); containing acids (formic, citric, lactic, acetic, hydrochloric, sulfuric, etc.) and alkali (potassium hydroxide), phenols, aldehydes, surfactants (quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC), guanidines (biguanidines, polyguanidines, etc.) etc.), amines (tertiary amines, alkylamines), alcohols (ethyl, 1-propanol, isopropyl); composite (a combination of different groups of active substances). It is also important in what conditions disinfectants and antiseptics are produced, namely the availability of highly qualified personnel , computerized production, including automated means of monitoring compliance with the conditions of the technological process, laboratory complex.

When choosing a disinfectant, it is necessary to pay attention to whether the agent is included in the “State Register of Disinfectants” (“State Register of Disinfectants”), to clarify whether the registration period for this agent has expired. Those funds for which the registration period has expired or those that are not registered in Ukraine in the prescribed manner (that is, they do not have a state registration certificate and approved guidelines for use) cannot be used for work. During the registration of a disinfectant, the expert commission must be provided with documents proving its effect on the human body, the environment, studies on specific activity, etc., on the basis of which methodological instructions for use are drawn up. In order to check whether a disinfectant or antiseptic is registered, it is not necessary to look for the state register, it is quite enough to require the trading organization to provide a copy of the current certificate of state registration. If there is such a document, the tool can be used at work (guided by methodological instructions), even if some regulatory authorities currently pretend that they are not familiar with the updates of the state register. An important issue of the effective use of disinfectants is the elimination of the formation of resistance in some microorganisms (primarily pathogens of nosocomial infections) in the course of long-term use of drugs. That is why in many countries the rotation of disinfectants has been introduced when they are used in medical (and similar) institutions. The scheme for alternating disinfectants is drawn up in such a way that drugs belonging to the same group of active substances (ADV) are not used without interruption for a long time.

How not to get lost among brands

When choosing a company - a supplier of disinfectants, it is advisable to pay attention to the breadth of the proposed product range of this series. Taking into account the current market realities, companies with a serious attitude to their business, with claims for long-term successful cooperation, which have qualified specialists (epidemiologists, disinfectionists) in the staff of their enterprises, are already working in Ukraine. Consumers can be given an exhaustive answer not only to questions directly related to a particular disinfectant, but also to provide extensive professional advice. When a company can offer products with a variety of ingredients, disinfectants from different manufacturers, the question of “engagement” in the so-called line of “own” products disappears completely. Recommendations on the use of disinfectants will be given taking into account the situation that has developed in the institution, the feasibility and necessity of taking certain anti-epidemic measures in each specific case. One of the fundamental principles for obtaining a high-quality and expected result of disinfection work in order to ensure hygiene in an institution is consistency and commitment. To develop such a system, it is necessary to develop and approve instructions for carrying out disinfection measures. When compiling such an internal document, they use the current legislative documents: the law of Ukraine "On the security of sanitary and epidemic welfare of the population" dated 24.02.1994 No. 4004-XII, the law of Ukraine "On the protection of the population against infectious diseases" dated 04.06.2000 No. 1645- III, State sanitary norms and rules for hairdressing salons of various types 2.2.2.022-99, Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine "On the approval of methodological recommendations" Surgical and hygienic hands for medical personnel" No. 798 dated 21.09.2010, Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine "On approval of methodological recommendations "Epidemiological overview of infections in the field of surgical intervention and prevention", dated 04.04.2008 No. 181, Guidelines for the use of disinfectants and antiseptics approved by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine (separate for each registered agent).

The material was first published in Permanent No. 2/2016