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Ethanol
I understand that topically applying ethanol, allegedly, evaporates very fast and only a small amount is absorbed by the skin, but the small amount that is absorbed by the skin, is it metabolised into acetaldehyde? If this is the case, is that not a dangerous metabolite; one to avoid?
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9 Replies
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You’ll need to read scientific studies on that, but topical ethanol is very safe.
I don’t think much is absorbed by the skin.
And even so, I don’t think that will reach the lower skin layers where blood enzymes can metabolize it. -
I’ve done some reading on it but not enough for em to remember; it was quite a long time ago. If ethanol does penetrate into at least the upper layer of skin, I wonder what happens to it. Surely it still gets metabolised, no?
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“After regular application of ethanol on the skin (e.g. in the form of hand disinfectants) relatively low but measurable blood concentrations of ethanol and its metabolite acetaldehyde may occur, which are, however, below acute toxic levels. Only in children, especially through lacerated skin, can percutaneous toxicity occur.”
- Lachenmeier, Dirk W. “Safe evaluation of topical applications of ethanol on the skin and inside the oral cavity” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2596158/#)
It appears yes, but not significantly.
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Is it not worrying that a class 1 carcinogen (acetaldehyde) be present in blood?
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@LuisJavier - No. The important thing is “below acute toxic levels.”
Calling something a “carcinogen” means nothing without also talking about the level of exposure. 1 molecule of acetaldehyde is not a carcinogen.
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Drunks have much more acetaldehyde in their blood than people using hand sanitizers (or body mists or any other topical ethanol product) do.
Cancer from alcohol is exceedingly rare, even in drunks. -
Having once run a still, in my view the most dangerous thing about any production involving ethanol, is the fire / explosion risk and the intoxication risk via the respiratory tract. I once dropped a one gallon dewar of 90% ethanol on a tile floor and broke it. The alcohol evaporated within seconds and the air became saturated with it. Fearful of an explosion I rushed around flinging windows open and then exited myself, but I was already staggering drunk from inhaling it. I’ve seen COSMOS formulations on suppliers sites with up to 40% ETOH. This poses problems even at small scale but can you imagine even a medium scale production facility being allowed to do that?
One more point. The ethanol I produced was quadruple distilled and filtered through a 1.2m column of activated charcoal. It had a very low % of other volatiles and in fact, you could get drunk on it with little or no hangover. However. If you are using ethanol in production, how pure is it? Any methanol content is deadly poisonous. Methanol is readily absorbed through the skin. -
Sounds very dangerous Belassi
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It is. If you get a vapour leak, large amounts of pure ethanol vapour can rapidly accumulate ready for ignition. And ethanol vapour is quite corrosive to seals.
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