Aseptic skin preparation—the act of cleaning an area of the horse’s body to remove dirt and microorganisms—is extremely important for veterinary procedures ranging from simple catheter insertions to complex surgeries. The veterinarian or tech performs the skin prep prior to the procedure to help prevent infection.

Traditionally, most practitioners have scrubbed the skin to prep it. New paint-on products that don’t requiring scrubbing, however, are gaining in popularity because they are less labor-intensive and time-consuming. But is this passive skin prep technique as effective?

Benjamin Davids, BS, a student at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, in Gainesville, led a study to find out if scrubbing is necessary during aseptic skin prep or if contact time with the skin is sufficient. He presented his findings at the 2016 American Association of Equine Practitioners’ Convention, held Dec. 3-7 in Orlando, Florida.

In his study, Davids and his team compared the efficacy and cost of using a passive (no scrubbing) paint-on preparation to that of an active scrub preparation. Both were chlorhexidine gluconate 4% solutions (CG), a widely used and proven antiseptic