Nicola from NKC equestrian training talks all things Hibiscrub.
About the author
Nicola Kinnard-Comedie owns and runs NKC Equestrian Training, a training company providing Online and One day Horse First Aid Courses across the UK, together with qualified vets. These courses and workshops are designed for horse owners to update their knowledge on preventative health care, wounds, colic and infectious diseases. As with human first aid recommendations for Horse First Aid change over the years, and these courses are the perfect opportunity to ask our vets lots of questions and enjoy a relaxed day of training, or you can learn at your own pace with the online course.
If you would like to learn more Horse First Aid then why not download our free Horse First Aid Kit Checklist here.
Do you have a horse first aid kit? Some owners have a very extensive kit containing literally everything you could ever need for your horse, whilst other will have a few products scattered around the yard. Whatever the status of your horse first aid kit the chances are your kit will contain a bottle of hibiscrub. It has been routinely used to clean wounds for many years, however, several leading vets are now suggesting that hibiscrub is not the best product for cleaning wounds. We have changed the recommendation on our popular Horse First Aid Courses back in April 2018, and here are the key reasons why that hibiscrub isn’t the best product to clean most wounds with.
Hibiscrub is too strong
Chlorhexidine, to give hibiscrub it’s correct name, is a powerful antimicrobial and it is designed for surgeons to prepare themselves, and their patients for surgery. Hibiscrub literally kills everything, which is ideal for surgery but not at all necessary for a regular wound. Hibiscrub will kill the good cells as well as the dirt and bacteria that you are trying to clean out. As a result hibiscrub doesn’t promote the best healing environment, and research shows that cleaning a wound daily with hibiscrub can actually delay the healing process.
Most owners don’t use it correctly
Hibiscrub should be very very diluted, at least a 1:20 dilution but most owners use a solution which is too concentrated. Undiluted hibiscrub is a bright pink colour, but when added to water in the correct concentration it should barely change the colour of the water. Unfortunately many owners use hibiscrub without diluting it sufficiently, and quite often the colour of the water looks more like blackcurrant squash. Sadly some owners use hibiscrub ‘neat’ thinking that more is best. Hibiscrub applied undiluted directly to the skin can be a serious irritant, and may cause more damage than the original cut the owner was trying to treat.
As well as the need to dilute hibiscrub well it should also be rinsed off, something that owners are often unaware of. If not rinsed off it can irritate the skin, and some of our vets report ‘hibiscrub mud fever’ where horses develop mud fever type of scabs on their lower legs as a result of having their legs washed regularly in hibiscrub.
Hibiscrub also works on contact time, not ‘scrubbability’. It should be left on for a minimum of two minutes, and then rinsed off. This is much better than aggressively scrubbing away at the wound.
What should you use to clean wounds with?
It is essential to clean wounds to be able to assess the extent and depth of a wound, to remove dirt and debris and to dress the wound. After all horses spend much of their time in muddy fields and also love lying in their own poo, so any wounds are inevitably dirty. You might have heard your vet say that ‘the solution to pollution is dilution’, this is a popular expression with vets (I think they learn this in the first week at vet school!), but it is a great principal for horse owners to remember when it comes to wounds. Lavaging or irrigating a wound with water, or preferably saline solution, is the best way to clean the wound. This will cause less damage to the tissue structure than scrubbing away with an antimicrobial product such as hibiscrub.
You can use a hose for a muddy cut straight from the field if it is safe to do so, and your horse will tolerate this, or a 50ml syringe is handy to flush a wound clean with.
Saline solution is the best product to clean most wounds with because it won’t harm the tissue, or slow down healing. Hibiscrub should be left for heavily contaminated wounds, or to be used on the advice of your vet. You can use a pre-prepared saline solution, or make up your own using a teaspoon of salt in a pint of cooled boiled water.
So if you have some hibiscrub in your horse first aid kit why not move it to the back of the cupboard, and keep saline solution for the majority of cuts and small wounds that your horse picks up.
It is also important to remember that the size of a wound doesn’t necessarily indicate the severity or need to seek veterinary assistance. A large wound can look worse due to the size, but the location of the wound must also be considered, as well as, the thickness and if any other structures are involved or visible. A wound (however small) over a joint or tendon should never be dismissed, and any cut which is the full thickness of the skin, or where muscle, tendon or bone can be seen should always been seen by a vet.
If you are in any doubt about any cut or injury on your horse you must seek guidance from your vet.
If you would like to know more about what to have in your Horse First Aid Kit, you can register for our free Horse First Aid Kit Checklist here.